Crystallographic preferred orientations of talc and chloritoid and implications for seismic anisotropy in subduction zones

Talc and chloritoid are common metamorphic minerals observed in mafic-ultramafic rocks and/or high-pressure metapelitic rocks comprising subducting slabs. Crystallographic preferred orientations (CPOs) of elastically anisotropic minerals have been known to be important for interpreting seismic anisotropy observed in subduction zones. However, studies on the CPOs of talc and chloritoid have been very limited. In this study, CPOs of talc and chloritoid in garnet-chloritoid-talc schist samples from ultrahigh-pressure Makbal Complex (Tianshan, Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan) which has been regarded as a part of subducting slab were measured using SEM/EBSD technique. CPO-induced seismic properties of both talc and chloritoid were analyzed and compared. The results showed that both talc and chloritoid displayed strong CPOs characterized by the [001] axes aligned subnormal to the foliation (see also Lee et al., 2021). CPO-induced seismic properties of polycrystalline talc and chloritoid were calculated and they showed that both P-wave anisotropy (AVp = 5 – 72 %) and high S-wave anisotropy (AVs = 10 – 24 %) of talc and chloritoid were much higher than those of garnet (AVp = 0.4 %, AVs = 0.9 – 1.0 %). In addition, the AVp of polycrystalline talc was much higher than that of polycrystalline chloritoid. Analysis of S-wave delay time and fast-polarization direction based on the modelling study of subduction zone geometry showed that the CPOs of talc and chloritoid induced a long delay time of 0.3 – 0.5 s and trench-parallel polarization direction for high dip-angle subduction, which is consistent with the observation of strong trench-parallel seismic anisotropy in subduction zones. Our results suggest that the strong CPOs of talc and chloritoid would influence trench-parallel seismic anisotropy induced by subducting slab in subduction zones. Lee et al., 2021, Seismic anisotropy in subduction zones: evaluating the role of chloritoid, Frontiers in Earth Science, 9, 1-16.