Using crystal-lattice distortion data for geological investigations: the weighted Burgers vector method

Janos Urai made major contributions to our understanding of rock deformation and the microstructural fingerprints that can be used to investigate it.

One such fingerprint is intracrystalline distortion. Crystals can be distorted due to deformation or growth but the distortion gives insights into processes in either case. Distortion is generally due to the presence of dislocations which give information on slip systems, stress levels, growth mechanisms etc. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) allows detailed quantification of distorted crystals, and we summarise here a method for extracting information on dislocations from such data. The weighted Burgers vector (WBV) method calculates a vector at each point on an EBSD map, or an average over a region. The vector is a weighted average of the Burgers vectors of dislocation lines intersecting the map surface. It is weighted towards dislocation lines at a high angle to the map but that can be accounted for in interpretation. The method is fast and does not involve specific assumptions about dislocation types; it assumes only that elastic strains have little effect on the calculation. It can be used, with care, to analyse subgrain walls (sharp orientation changes) as well as gradational orientation changes within individual grains. It can complement established methods for subgrain wall analysis and frees us from some assumptions made in other methods.

We give examples of its use applied to olivine and plagioclase. The magnitude of the vector relates to dislocation density but, as a vector, we find its directional information particularly informative. Code to implement this approach is available from the first author (“Crystalscape”), from Oxford Instruments (a commercial version) and aspects are implemented in MTEX.

Urai, J. L., Means, W. D. & Lister, G. S. 1986. Dynamic recrystallisation of minerals. In: Mineral and Rock Deformation: Laboratory Studies (edited by Hobbs, B. E. & Heard, H. C.). Geophysical Monograph 36. AGU, Washington, D.C., 161-199.

Urai, J. L. & Spiers, C. J. 2007. The effect of grain boundary water on deformation mechanisms and rheology of rocksalt during long-term deformation. In: 6th Conference on the Mechanical Behavior of Salt. Proceedings and Monographs in Engineering Water and Earth Sciences, Fed Inst Geosci & Nat Resources, Hannover, 149-+.

Wheeler, J., Piazolo, S., Prior, D. J., Trimby, P. W. & Tielke, J. A. 2024. Using crystal lattice distortion data for geological investigations: the Weighted Burgers Vector method. Journal of Structural Geology 179, 105040.