Here we provide compositional and crystallographic orientation data on metabasaltic fault rocks exhumed by the Mai’iu fault in the footwall of the Suckling-Dayman Metamorphic Core Complex, SE Papua New Guinea. The present dataset was collected with a SIGMA-VP field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM) equipped with an electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) detector at the University of Otago, using 30 kV acceleration voltage, 50–100 nA beam current, 20–30 mm working distance and 70° sample tilt. Electron backscatter patterns (EBSP) for the mineral phases actinolite, epidote, titanite, albite, calcite and quartz were collected by an HKL Nordlys camera and indexed with the AZTEC software by Oxford Instruments. The analysed fault sequence includes five units: a) non-mylonitic schist (protolith); b) mylonite; c) foliated cataclasite; d) ultracataclasite; and e) gouge containing the principal displacement surface. To resolve the microstructures of this fault sequence, step sizes between 0.2 µm and 5 µm were used. This detailed dataset reveals changing deformation processes in the Mai’iu fault rocks as the footwall was exhumed towards the Earth’s surface. A processed and interpreted version of this EBSD dataset can be found in the doctoral dissertation by Mizera (2019): “Deformational Processes Accommodating Slip on an Active Low-Angle Normal Fault, Suckling-Dayman Metamorphic Core Complex, Papua New Guinea.” (http://hdl.handle.net/10063/8666).
The EBSD data is provided in a folder with 25 subfolders for 25 samples. Detailed information about the sample locations is given in the file EBSD_sample_locations_and_structural_orientations.xlsx. Contact person is Marcel Mizera - Utrecht University - m.mizera@uu.nl
