| Summary: | Dynamically recrystallized quartz microstructures preserved in contact aureoles allow for stress and strain rate estimates associated with penetrative deformation of rocks surrounding pluton margins. Microstructural analysis of the Harkless quartzites surrounding the western margin of Papoose Flat pluton indicates that recrystallization occurred by grain boundary migration with mean recrystallized grain size ranging from 86-225 µm. The application of three calibrated piezometers results in differential stress estimates between ~11 and ~29 MPa. Published wet-quartzite dislocation creep flow laws combined with deformation temperature, water fugacity, and differential stress estimates infer strain rates that range from 1.2 x 10⁻¹⁴ s⁻¹ to 2.3 x 10⁻¹² s⁻¹.
In order to analyze 3D subsurface fault geometry along map-pattern curves (salients and recesses), a structure contour map of the Moine thrust, extending from the North Coast southwards to the Dundonnel area, was constructed from 1:50,000 scale British Geological Survey (BGS) maps by correlating between elevation control points constrained by the intersection of the fault trace with topographic contours. The structure contour map indicates significant lateral variation in fault geometry along the Moine thrust, with recesses associated with antiformal corrugations in the subsurface and salients characterized by planar geometries or broad synformal corrugations. Additionally, structure contour maps constructed on the Glencoul thrust, as depicted by original BGS maps confirms that the thrust segments to the NE and SW of Loch Glencoul are part of the same structure, rather than different structures separated by a lateral ramp as shown on more recent BGS maps. === Master of Science
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