Occurrence of mylonite zones and pseudotachylyte veins around the base of the upper crust: An example from the southern Hidaka metamorphic belt, Samani area, Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

Geological studies on exhumed pseudotachylyte-bearing mylonite zones in S-type tonalite were carried out in the southern Hidaka metamorphic belt, Hokkaido, Japan. Mylonitization is characterized by (1) development of composite planar fabrics, (2) grain size reduction, and (3) change in modal composition an increase in mica content and a decrease in quartz content from protolith to mylonite. Mylonite zones are heterogeneously concentrated in the host rocks. At microscopic scales, shear deformation is concentrated heterogeneously in fine-grained layers along C-surfaces. Most of the pseudotachylyte layers are subparallel to the C-surface, and tend to overprint thick mylonite zones. The heterogeneous development of mylonite zones, which may be activated as layers of co-seismic slip, should be incorporated into numerical modeling of seismogenic zones. Copyright © The Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS); The Seismological Society of Japan; The Volcanological Society of Japan; The Geodetic Society of Japan; The Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences.