School of Earth Sciences - Theses
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ItemDeformation and the thermobaric history of the eastern coast of Williams Island( 1997)Williams Island is located off the southern coast of the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia where the Palaeoproterozoic rocks of the Lincoln Batholith intrude a portion of an Archaean basement complex. The structures of the eastern coast of Williams Island are controlled by the rheological contrast between the mafic dykes and the felsic granite gneisses that comprise the batholith. Planes of rheological weakness exist at the dyke margins along which strain is localised. The plane of failure and the kinematics along it depends upon the orientation of the dyke with respect to the stress field. Displacements at cross-cutting dyke margins indicates the occurrence of three significant deformation events, D 1, D2 and D3. By comparison, the D1 is localised to a region of outcropping Jussieu Dykes, the D2 is pervasive and the D3 is confined to the discrete Northern and Southern Shear Zones. Associated with the latter two deformations is an increase in temperature and strain rate which controls the relative strength of the metabasic and the granite gneiss rocks. Brittle extensional structures, such as boudinage, form when the mafic dykes behave in a more competent manner relative to the host, whereas ductile extensional features, like pinch and swell, infer a greater homogeneity between the rock types. The rheological contrast is inverted with a preferential increase in strain resulting in granite boudinage. The D2 fabrics arc predominantly defined by a granulite two-pyroxene assemblage and the structural elements of D3 are characterised by minerals associated with amphibolisation. Average pressure calculations of representative assemblages give 7 ± 1 kbar for M2/D2 and 12 ± 2 kbar for M3/D3, which suggests crustal thickening over D2 - D3 time. Exhumation of the crustal block therefore occurred after peak D3.