¹Toshihiro Tada,^2,3Kosuke Kurosawa,⁴Naotaka Tomioka,^5,6Takayoshi Nagaya,³Junko Isa,⁷Christopher Hamann,⁸Haruka Ono,⁹Takafumi Niihara,³Takaya Okamoto,^1,3Takafumi Matsui
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets) (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JE008409]
¹Institute for Geo-Cosmology, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba, Japan
²Department of Human Environmental Science, Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Hyogo, Japan
³Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba, Japan
⁴Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, X-star, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Kochi, Japan
⁵Department of Environmental Science, Tokyo Gakgei University, Tokyo, Japan
⁶Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
⁷Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Berlin, Germany
⁸Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
⁹Department of Applied Science, Okayama University of Science, Okayama, Japan
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Feather features (FFs) in quartz consist of a planar fracture (PF) and associated fine lamellae (FF lamellae; FFL) and have been observed in various natural impact structures. However, the mechanisms and conditions of FF formation are poorly understood. We conducted shock recovery experiments on granite using decaying compressive pulses to investigate the formation conditions of FFs. We characterized the recovered samples using an optical microscope equipped with a universal stage, a scanning electron microscope combined with an electron back-scattered diffraction detector, and a transmission electron microscope. We found that FFs are formed over a wide range of peak pressures (2–18 GPa) and that FFs can be divided into at least three types (I–III) based on the crystallographic orientation of the PFs and FFL, the angle between the orientation of the FFL and the propagation direction of the compression wave, and the presence/absence of amorphous silica in the FFL. The peak pressures that produce type I–III FFs are estimated to be <12, 12–14, and >16 GPa, respectively. We propose that FFs can be used as a shock barometer for quartz-bearing rocks.