Microstructures and rheology of the Earth's upper mantle inferred from a multiscale approach

The strongly anisotropic rheology of olivine polycrystals, associated to their microstructure, constitutes a key feature affecting the dynamics of the Earth's upper mantle. High pressure deformation experiments carried out on olivine single crystals under synchrotron radiation, together with estimations of lattice friction based on first-principle calculations, show a transition from easy [100] to easy [001] slips as pressure and temperature (thus depth) increases. We input these data at the slip system level into the second-order extension of the self-consistent scheme to assess microstructure evolution along a typical flow pattern beneath an oceanic spreading center. (C) 2010 Academic des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.