Abstract

Co-authors: Katherine Higgie (CNRS & Universite Montpellier, France), Veronique Le Roux (WHOI, USA ), Vincent Soustelle (University Wuhan, China), Virginie Baptiste (CNRS & Universite Montpellier, France), Alain Vauchez (CNRS & Universite Montpellier, France), Jean Louis Bodinier (CNRS & Universite Montpellier, France)

Experiments and theoretical considerations predict feedbacks between deformation and melts, namely strain localization controlled by the presence of melts and melt focusing controlled by deformation. Yet, peridotite massifs and mantle xenoliths, which record deformation and melt transport through the shallow mantle (lithosphere and lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary), feature a wide variety of relations between melts and deformation. These relations range from strong feedbacks between deformation and melt distribution to absence of any relation between the two processes. We will present an overview of the different types of relations between deformation and melts observed in the field (km to cm scale) and in thin sections (mm scale) and highlight the questions these observations bring.