The records of petrogenesis and deformation in minerals and rocks provide the narrative of dynamic changes that have shaped Earth’s crust and mantle. Much of this intricate evidence has until recently been either out of reach or obscured. However, with ongoing improvements in the spatial resolution, precision and accuracy of geochemical and geochronological analyses, new insights into such processes have been revealed at unprecedented levels of detail. Coupled petrological and temporal frameworks are now essential inputs into models that link grain-scale processes to large-scale geodynamics, and critical advancements in our knowledge of lithospheric evolution are surely tied to successful integration of these growing datasets.

This session will explore innovative applications of geochemical and/or geochronological data to reconstruct petrological and deformational histories in all their diversity. We invite contributions that highlight novel developments in trace-element or isotope (micro-)analysis, geo- and thermochronology, micro-structural analysis, and the characterisation of fluid-rock systems. We particularly welcome studies that integrate these approaches into field- or model-based investigations, at scales ranging from individual rock samples to entire terranes.

Keynote speakers:

Steve Reddy (Curtin University)
“Nano is the next big thing: Revealing geochemical processes with atom probe microscopy”

Philippe Goncalves (Université de Franche-Comté)
"The role of chemical processes during shear zone formation and geophysical implications"

Andrew Kylander-Clark (University of California, Santa Barbara)
"Recent developments in Laser-Ablation Split-Stream Petrochronology"

Daniela Rubatto (University of Bern)
"Oxygen isotopes in garnet and accessory minerals used to constrain fluids in subducted crust"