In the Plate Tectonics theory, Earth’s lithosphere is described as a rigid outermost shell deforming over long timescales along narrow boundaries, that play a central role in our Planet’s thermal and dynamic evolution. Understanding the modalities of strain localization in the lithosphere and its failure are therefore essential to describe the formation and evolution of plate boundaries, fault zones and other mechanical heterogeneities. This requires knowledge of localization processes at both micro- and macro-physical scales, the analysis of their dynamics over various time scales, and involves complementary inputs from geological and seismic observations, laboratory experiments and numerical and analog modeling.
We welcome multidisciplinary contributions that will collaboratively help to build a unified view on the dynamical evolution of lithospheric localization processes. Example topics include but are certainly not limited to the study of variations in lithospheric properties deduced from mineralogical, petrological or geological data, and of the implication of lithospheric anomalies on the dynamics of fault zones and the formation and evolution of plate margins in nature or in models.