Deformation Mechanisms, Rheology, and Tectonics: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Abstract

The geosciences have come a long way in the last two decades as geologists, seismologists, numerical modelers, experimentalists, and materials scientists have interacted to dramatically increase our understanding of how the interior of the Earth deforms. It is remarkable to look back at the early days of plate tectonics and realize how little we knew about basic deformational processes at that time. Since then, we've seen dramatic advances in our understanding of how processes at the atomic level contribute to tectonic systems; and ultimately, we can hope that the combination of experimental rock deformation, numerical simulation, and studies of naturally deformed rocks will help us understand the full geodynamics of lithospheric deformation. From that perspective, it is great to see a book like this published, because it brings into focus many outstanding problems in our understanding of ductile deformational processes in the Earth. Deformation Mechanisms, Rheology, and Tectonics: Current Status and Future Perspectives includes several review papers that provide a good perspective on how far we have come, but the book also points out just how far we have to go in addressing some of these problems. Perhaps most important, the volume has several contributions on what is probably the most overlooked topic in the study of deformational processes: pressure solution. The book is a bit Eurocentric, but people in North America will, in general, benefit most. North Americans tend to focus more on large‐scale tectonic processes and less on the details of how solid‐state flow actually works; while in Europe, the emphasis is generally reversed.