Multiple magmatic fabrics in plutons: an overlooked tool for exploring interactions between magmatic processes and regional deformation?

Abstract This paper elaborates on the concept of multiple magmatic fabrics in plutons. After a general overview of various types of multiple fabrics that may develop in magmatic rocks, two case examples of porphyritic granite and melasyenite plutons in the Bohemian Massif are examined. In the Jizera granite, complex variations in K-feldspar phenocryst shape-fabric revealed by image analysis of a 200 m long section of an underground tunnel are in contrast with homogeneously oriented magnetic (AMS) fabric carried by coaxial contributions of biotite, magnetite and maghemite. In the Knížecí Stolec melasyenite pluton, emplacement-related margin-parallel feldspar foliation was overprinted by flat-lying foliation; the latter is interpreted to record regional tectonic strain. At the two stations examined in detail, the crystallographic-preferred orientation of biotite and amphibole in the inter-phenocryst matrix (measured using electron back-scatter diffraction – EBSD) differed from both feldspar fabric and also from the AMS principal directions. Multiple magmatic fabrics in these two plutons are interpreted in terms of fabric superposition, where late weak strain is superposed onto a high-strength phenocryst framework, but is accommodated preferentially by small mineral grains (biotite, magnetite) in the melt-bearing matrix. This mechanism may explain the discrepancy between mesoscopic feldspar fabric and AMS. We conclude that multiple magmatic fabrics in plutons may thus result from accumulated strain caused by different processes during final crystallization and, as such, may serve as a sensitive indicator of the evolving interactions between magmatic and tectonic processes in the Earth's crust.