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Interpretation of deformation microstructures in syntectonic granite: insights from Phulad granite, Rajasthan, NW India

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Abstract

Previous work reveals a syn-tectonic granite named Phulad granite, which is emplaced (∼820 Ma) in the western part of the South Delhi Fold Belt (SDFB) along and across the Phulad Shear Zone (PSZ). There is a lack of information about the detailed microstructural study, differential stress and strain rate variation from this granite body. These pieces of information are crucial in developing deformational history associated with the shear zone deformation. The granite preserves a variety of dynamic recrystallization from grain boundary bulging (BLG) to sub-grain rotation (SGR) to grain boundary migration (GBM). There is a variation in the fractal dimension (D) in the granite, such as higher D at the shear zone, and with increasing distance from the shear zone, D values are low. Strain rates (10−7.52 s−1–10−7.99 s−1) are much higher than the geological strain rates in the natural systems. The strain rates indicate that the method to calculate strain rate using the D value (1.007 ± 0.017 to 1.031 ± 0.022) is to some extent erroneous or fails to give geologically reasonable value for high-temperature syn-tectonic granite such as Phulad granite. Based on the quartz piezometer, our findings reveal variation in flow stress with distance from the shear zone, which depends on the grain size. Volume gain and mass balance calculations indicate that fluid incorporation at the shear zone reduces deformation temperature, which also validates the findings from the microstructural study. These microstructures and grain size calculations are discussed to interpret the deformation mechanism, various stress-strain pattern and evolution of the Phulad granite throughout the area.

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Acknowledgments

A.K.S. acknowledges the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi (Govt. of India) for the Inspire Fellowship and S.M.C. acknowledges the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi (Govt. of India) for funding the Extra Mural Research Project (Scheme EMR/2015/000204) and CSIR, India (Scheme No. 24(0359)/19/EMR-II). The authors are grateful to the associate editor Raehee Han for handling this manuscript. The authors thank Prof. Soumyajit Mukherjee and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Ayan Kumar Sarkar, Anirban Manna, Sadhana M. Chatterjee & Alip Roy

  2. Hiroshima Institute of Plate Convergence Regions Research (HiPeR), Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, 7398526, Japan

    Sadhana M. Chatterjee

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Sarkar, A.K., Manna, A., Chatterjee, S.M. et al. Interpretation of deformation microstructures in syntectonic granite: insights from Phulad granite, Rajasthan, NW India. Geosci J 27, 735–752 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12303-023-0028-3

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