The evolution of cataclastic fault rocks from a pre-existing mylonite

Abstract A microstructural investigation of cataclastic fault rock evolution from a quartzite with an original mylonitic microstructure is reported. The fault rocks produced range from clast dominated microbreccias to matrix dominated ultracataclasites. The recrystallized grain size and the sub-grain size in the original mylonite appear to control the development of the fine-grained matrix in the microbreccias and cataclasites by focusing fracture along sub-grain and grain boundaries. The ultracataclasite generation involves further grain size reduction which is dominated by transgranular fracturing. The host rock clasts present in the fault zones show a significant increase in dislocation density indicating that a component of low temperature crystal plasticity is associated with the faulting. In addition the fault rocks show evidence of partial cementation by the growth of quartz and carbonate cements. The evolution of the fault rocks studied in terms of the clast size and the clast/fine-grained matrix ratios are not a simple function of the displacement magnitude.