A 58 m long azimuthally oriented ice core has been collected from the floating lateral sinistral shear margin of the lower Priestley Glacier, Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. The crystallographic preferred orientations (CPO) and microstructures are described in order to correlate the geometry of anisotropy with constrained large-scale kinematics. Cryogenic Electron Backscatter Diffraction analysis shows a very strong fabric (c-axis primary eigenvalue ∼0.9) with c-axes aligned horizontally sub-perpendicular to flow, rotating nearly 40° clockwise (looking down) to the pole to shear throughout the core. The c-axis maximum is sub-perpendicular to vertical layers, with the pole to layering always clockwise of the c-axes. Priestley ice microstructures are defined by largely sub-polygonal grains and constant mean grain sizes with depth. Grain long axis shape preferred orientations (SPO) are almost always 1–20° clockwise of the c-axis maximum. A minor proportion of “oddly” oriented grains that are distinct from the main c-axis maximum, are present in some samples. These have horizontal c-axes rotated clockwise from the primary c-axis maximum and may define a weaker secondary maximum up to 30° clockwise of the primary maximum. Intragranular misorientations are measured along the core, and although the statistics are weak, this could suggest recrystallization by subgrain rotation to occur. These microstructures suggest subgrain rotation (SGR) and recrystallization by grain boundary migration recrystallization (GBM) are active in the Priestley Glacier shear margin. Vorticity analysis based on intragranular distortion indicates a vertical axis of rotation in the shear margin. The variability in c-axis maximum orientation with depth indicates the structural heterogeneity of the Priestley Glacier shear margin occurs at the meter to tens of meters scale. We suggest that CPO rotations could relate to rigid rotation of blocks of ice within the glacial shear margin. Rotation either post-dates CPO and SPO development or is occurring faster than CPO evolution can respond to a change in kinematics.

A series of simple‐shear experiments on blueschist was performed at 400–500°C and 1–2.5 GPa to understand the deformation of seismically active, subducting oceanic crust. The experiments show that brittle microstructures are mainly found at pressures of 1–2 GPa, whereas ductile microstructures form at 2.5 GPa. J‐indices (a measure of fabric intensity) of glaucophane crystal preferred orientations change systematically with changing shear strain and confining pressure, and the angle between the slip plane and the shear direction of samples deformed at >2 GPa is similar to that of a strain ellipsoid. These results, together with the variable orientations of fine grains in a selected area electron diffraction image at 2 GPa, indicate that the brittle–ductile transition for glaucophane occurs at ~2 GPa. In contrast to this, lawsonite in the experiments show abundant fracturing in most specimens and a poor correlation between the J‐index, shear strain, and confining pressure. This demonstrates that lawsonite deformed by brittle failure under all experimental conditions. In the case of a starting material that has a strong fabric and deformed under dry experimental conditions, the brittle–ductile transition zone of glaucophane will be much shallower than 2 GPa. Therefore, our initial experimental results on the deformation behavior of blueschist indirectly support the dehydration embrittlement of subducting oceanic crust (glaucophane) as an important factor in the origin of intraplate earthquakes.

Iron‐rich olivine is mechanically weaker than olivine of mantle composition, ca. Fo₉₀, and thus is more amenable to study under a wide range of laboratory conditions. To investigate the effects of iron content on deformation‐produced crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) and grain size, we analyzed the microstructures of olivine samples with compositions of Fo₇₀, Fo₅₀, and Fo₀ that were deformed in torsion under either anhydrous or hydrous conditions at 300 MPa. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) observations reveal a transition in CPO from D‐type fabric, induced by dislocation glide on both the (010)[100] and the (001)[100] slip systems, at low strains, to A‐type fabric, caused by dislocation glide on the (010)[100] slip system, at high strains for all of our samples, independent of iron content and hydrous/anhydrous conditions. A similar evolution of fabric with increasing strain is also reported to occur for Fo₉₀. Radial seismic anisotropy increases with increasing strain, reaching a maximum value of ∼1.15 at a shear strain of ∼3.5 for each sample, demonstrating that the seismic anisotropy of naturally deformed olivine‐rich rocks can be well approximated by that of iron‐rich olivine. Based on EBSD observations, we derived a piezometer for which recrystallized grain size decreases inversely with stress to the ∼1.2 power. Also, recrystallized grain size increases with increasing iron content. Our experimental results contribute to understanding the microstructural evolution in the mantle of not only Earth but also Mars, where the iron content in olivine is higher.