Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique and its application to study of continental dynamics
电子背散射衍射（EBSD）技术在大陆动力学研究中的应用

The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique allows us to measure the crystal orientation, determine grain boundary misorientations and discriminate between different materials fast and easily, which make it an ideal tool to quantitatively study microstructure of rocks. Combined with field geological observations and deformation experiments of minerals, the fabric analysis provides important information on shear sense and deformation conditions of rocks, which are critical to study kinematics and dynamics of continents. First, we gave a brief introduction on the EBSD technique and summarized the relationships between characteristic fabrics and deformation conditions of major minerals. Then based on the research projects of the Key Laboratory for Continental Dynamics in the past 5 years, we showed the application of the EBSD technique in studying continental subduction-exhumation processes and the continental orogens. The results indicate that the fabrics of olivine and omphacite were formed during the deep subduction of the Yangtze plate, while the fabrics of quartz, plagioclase and sillimanite can be used to investigate deformation history of large-scale ductile shear zones in the crust, e.g., the ductile shear zones related with exhumation of the Sulu ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks, the Longmenshan thrust shear zone, the Kangxiwar strike-slip shear zone in the western Kunlun Mountains, the Kangma ductile detachment in the Himalayan orogen. Therefore the EBSD technique is very helpful to combine the microstructure with tectonics and construct a continental dynamic model integrated of metamorphism-deformation-kinematics.