Time for anisotropy: The significance of mechanical anisotropy for the development of deformation structures

Abstract

The forty-year history of the Journal of Structural Geology has recorded an enormous increase in the description, interpretation and modelling of deformation structures. Amongst factors that control deformation and the resulting structures, mechanical anisotropy has proven difficult to tackle. Using a Fast Fourier Transform-based numerical solver for viscoplastic deformation of crystalline materials, we illustrate how mechanical anisotropy has a profound effect on developing structures, such as crenulation cleavages, porphyroclast geometry and the initiation of shear bands and shear zones.