Deformation of the Zahri granitoid during and after crystallization inferences from textural evidences in the terminations of Nehbandan shear zone, Eastern Iran

The Zahri granitoid body has intruded into the Late Cretaceous ophiolitic rocks syn-tectonically. This granitoid with NW–SE general trend was emplaced along the terminations of Nehbandan shear system in the northern Sistan suture zone during the Early Eocene. Development of magmatic to low temperature solid-state fabrics have shown the progressive deformation with decreasing melt content during crystallization and cooling in this body. There are clear evidences of deformation in the presence of melt phase such as fractures of plagioclase filled by quartz as well as microstructures of high-T solid-state deformation such as chessboard patterns and beginning of grain boundary migration in quartz grains that suggest these fabrics have been developed during or just after complete crystallization of magma. The solid-state microstructures such as subgrain rotation and occasionally bulging recrystallization in quartz grains, myrmekite and decrease in grain size of recrystallized plagioclase and ribbon patterns in deformed biotites have suggested changes in crystal structure in the progressive deformation during cooling of the body. Foliations measured in the field have shown predominantly W-E to NW–SE strikes (mean foliation pole: 002o/57o) in the Zahri granitoid and at different stages of magma crystallization have demonstrated similar orientations. The presence of synmagmatic microstructures and the concordance of solid-state mesoscopic-scale planar fabrics with general trend of shear zones in the terminations of Nehbandan shear system imply that the role of these terminations and associated deformation in fabric development during the Early Eocene.