Many regions of the Earth, from crust to core, exhibit anisotropic fabrics which can reveal much about geodynamic processes in the subsurface. These fabrics can exist at a variety of scales, from crystallographic orientations to regional structure alignments. In the past few decades, a tremendous body of multidisciplinary research has been dedicated to characterizing anisotropy in the solid Earth and understanding its geodynamical implications. This has included work in fields such as: (1) geophysics, to make in situ observations and construct models of anisotropic properties at a range of depths; (2) mineral physics, to explain the cause of some of these observations; and (3) numerical modelling, to relate the inferred fabrics to regional stress and flow regimes and, thus, geodynamic processes in the Earth. The study of anisotropy in the Solid Earth encompasses topics so diverse that it often appears fragmented according to regions of interest, e.g., the upper or lower crust, oceanic lithosphere, continental lithosphere, cratons, subduction zones, D'', or the inner core. The aim of this session is to bring together scientists working on different aspects of anisotropy to provide a comprehensive overview of the field. We encourage contributions from all disciplines of the earth sciences (including mineral physics, seismology, magnetotellurics, geodynamic modelling) focused on anisotropy at all scales and depths within the Earth.

Invited speakers: Claudio Faccenna (Università Roma TRE), Caroline Eakin (Yale University)