Many grain boundaries and surfaces in rocks deforming in Earth’s lithosphere have unique and poorly characterized structure, composition, physical properties, and morphology, yet are increasingly recognized to play an important role in the overall physical and chemical behavior of aggregates. Increasingly precise and high-resolution analytical methods mean our understanding of these effects is rapidly advancing. We invite contributions to understanding of grain boundaries and surfaces resulting from study of natural or experimental samples, and numerical models. We are particularly interested in those that draw on collaborations with disciplines outside traditional tectonophysics. Some possible foci are: grain boundary internal structure, geometry in relation to deformation kinematics or adjacent grain orientations, crystallographic relationships, ability to act as mechanical weaknesses, role as pathways for solid or fluid-assisted migration of material, as reaction interfaces, and the factors influencing formation of both surfaces and boundaries, and boundary mobility.
This would ideally be a PICO session.