This project comprises an experimental and theoretical study of the roles of crystal-lattice defects, which are characterized spatially at the nanometer-to-micrometer scale, on the plastic (permanent deformation) and anelastic (time-dependent recoverable, or transient, deformation, which is the source of the attenuation of seismic waves and the physics behind mechanical relaxation) responses of mineral assemblages representative of the upper-mantle rock of Earth. Specifically, we will examine the roles played by (i) heterophase boundaries (crystalline boundaries separating different minerals) and (ii) subgrain boundaries (crystalline partial-boundaries within component crystals) on the mechanical dynamics. The work emphasizes both spatial and temporal scaling. Spatially, it is the nanometer-to-micrometer scale defects (and their spatial distribution, also at the micrometer scale) that effect the mechanical response at the scale of kilometers and greater. Temporally, one must select appropriate thermodynamic potentials of stress & temperature and appropriate rock microstructure so as to mimic the physics of deformation active in the Earth over geological time with those active in laboratory experiments, which are completed over hours. Technically, the experimental work emphasizes (a) the role of grain- and heterophase-boundary sliding in the development both of spatial separation of phases (metamorphic layering) and of fabric (i.e., crystallographic-preferred orientation of minerals-CPO); (b) the transient creep and, related, attenuation dynamics associated with both of these phenomena; (c) the spatial scaling of phase separation as a function of flow stress and the impact of such scaling on attenuation; (d) the correlation of transient creep/attenuation responses in polycrystalline aggregates with their response(s) in stress relaxation. The theoretical aspect emphasizes (a) application of nonequilibrium thermodynamics to the problem of strain-effected phase separation and (b) application of a plasticity "equation-of-state" to the attenuation response of polycrystalline aggregates.
The work has multiple applications in geophysics. Discerning the structure of Earth's mantle through interpretation of seismic data depends on understanding the anelastic response(s) of the constituent minerals and rock. The seismology community is interested in understanding the effects of, e.g., (i) fabric, (ii) chemical potentials (specifically of water and oxygen) and (iii) strain-effected layered structures on attenuation. The active tectonics community is deeply interested in the microphysics of transient creep, which is related to attenuation. These phenomena are all affected/effected not only by grain boundary processes, but also by dislocation motion and related dislocation structures, which have received, so far, little attention in experimental studies of attenuation/transient creep. Both will be the emphases of this work. Additionally, the science itself addresses issues of (i) 'atomic self-assembly' via large plastic strain and (ii) the length scales of energy dissipation; theories and their development relating to hierarchical materials with unique physical (and, thus, economical) properties (e.g., materials combining high stiffness with high damping, multilayer or percolative structures with distinctive electrical or optical response, etc.) can be anticipated as a 'by-product' of the research being pursued.
