Experimental calcite dissolution under stress: Evolution of grain contact microstructure during pressure solution creep

Delphine Croizé (1, 2) , François Renard (1, 3) , Knut Bjørlykke (2) , Dag Kristian Dysthe (3)

1 LGCA - Laboratoire de Géodynamique des Chaines Alpines
2 Department of Geosciences [Oslo]
3 PGP - Physics of Geological Processes [Oslo]

For the first time, nanometer resolution techniques both in situ and ex situ were compared in order to study calcite dissolution under stress. The obtained results enabled identification of the relative importance of pressure solution driven by normal load and free surface dissolution driven by strain energy. It is found that pressure solution of calcite crystals at the grain scale occurred by two different mechanisms. Diffusion of the dissolved solid took place either at a rough calcite/indenter interface, or through cracks that propagated from the contact toward the less stressed part of the crystal. It is also found that strain rates are mostly a function of the active process, i.e., pressure solution associated or not with cracks, rather than being influenced by stress variations. Strain rates obtained in this study are in agreement with published data of experimental calcite and carbonate dissolution under stress.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences; Tectonics; Environmental Sciences; Global Changes

Delphine Croizé, François Renard, Knut Bjørlykke, Dag Kristian Dysthe. Experimental calcite dissolution under stress: Evolution of grain contact microstructure during pressure solution creep. Journal of Geophysical Research, 2010, 115, pp.09207. ⟨10.1029/2010JB000869⟩. ⟨insu-00549096⟩