Intracrystalline deformation microstructures in natural olivine with implications for stress estimation

Constraining the stress related to lithospheric deformation in natural rocks is key to develop and test a geodynamic model. However, the cautions of extrapolating piezometers that are established on experimental samples to natural rocks are less addressed. In this study, we investigated the microstructures of a natural harzburgite sample using the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique. Subgrain boundary (SGB) geometries suggest large percentages of (010)[100] and {0kl}[100] dislocation slip systems in olivines. More importantly, multiple low-angle misorientation boundaries (LAMBs) variants are recognized for the first time in olivine based on their distinctive characteristics with the change of EBSD mapping step size. The LAMBs that exist at a small step size (≤ 1 μm) are mostly equivalent to real SGBs, while other LAMBs that appear only when the step size is larger (> 1 μm) are artificial SGBs. Besides, the former develop mainly in the high LAMB density grains, whereas the latter are mostly found in the low LAMB density grains. This result reinforces the previous knowledge that the stress calculated using subgrain-related piezometers is meaningful only when real SGBs are captured at sufficiently small step size. Furthermore, we provide a proof of concept that SGB density and kernel average misorientation (KAM) are two viable metrics to estimate stress. These two alternative piezometers, which still need calibrations using the experimentally deformed samples, are anticipated to have wide applications in natural rocks.