The role of symmetry-breaking strains on quartz inclusions in anisotropic hosts: Implications for Raman elastic geobarometry

Raman elastic geobarometry for mineral host-inclusion systems is used to determine the strains acting on an inclusion still entrapped in its host by measuring its Raman wavenumber shifts which are interpreted through the phonon-mode Grüneisen tensors of the inclusion phase. The calculated inclusion strains can then be used in an elastic model to calculate the pressure and temperature conditions of entrapment. This method is applied frequently to host inclusion systems where the host is almost elastically isotropic (e.g. garnet) and the inclusion is elastically anisotropic (e.g. quartz and zircon). In this case, when the entrapment occurs under hydrostatic conditions the host will impose isotropic strains on the inclusion which in turn will develop non-hydrostatic stress. In this scenario the symmetry of the inclusion mineral is preserved and the strains in the inclusion can be measured via Raman spectroscopy using the phonon-mode Grüneisen tensor approach.