Comparative rheological behaviour of albite and quartz in siliceous schists revealed by the microboudinage of piedmontite

This paper presents a detailed comparison of the microboudinage of piedmontite in two different mineralogical hosts, a quartz matrix, and albite porphyroblasts in a siliceous schist, with the aim of clarifying the rheological properties of albite in relation to those of quartz. Stress and strain analyses of the microboudinage confirm that the boudinage took place in the retrograde stage of metamorphism during decreasing temperature, and reveal that albite deformed at the same strain rate as quartz above the plastic-brittle transition temperature of albite.