A recent paper devoted to unusual fine-scale tubular tunnels found in pyrope and almandine garnets suggested that the 5 to 100 μm diameter tunnels were produced by an endolithic organism that is able to chemically dissolve and penetrate the mineral, perhaps in search of nutrients. The hypothesized microbial boring of the garnets was based on the finding of endolithic remains in the tunnels, but boring alone does not adequately explain the linear, highly aligned or occasionally branched tunnels that have been imaged. We have prepared this short Letter, in the spirit of Occam’s Razor, to highlight the very probable role that dislocations play in the creation of such tunnels by preferential etching of a dislocation-rich deformation microstructure. The geometrical features of the tunnels possess all the characteristics of classical dislocation substructures that have been observed in natural and synthetic garnets.

中文翻译：

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石榴石和铝榴石中微隧道阵列的形成

最近的一篇关于在榴石和铝榴石中发现的不寻常的细管状隧道的论文表明，5 到 100 微米直径的隧道是由一种能够化学溶解和渗透矿物的内石生物产生的，也许是为了寻找营养。对石榴石的假设微生物钻孔是基于在隧道中发现的内石残骸，但仅钻孔并不能充分解释已成像的线性、高度对齐或偶尔分支的隧道。我们本着奥卡姆剃刀的精神准备了这封简短的信函，以强调位错在通过优先蚀刻富含位错的变形微观结构来创建此类隧道中发挥的非常可能的作用。