This session concerns about the interrelation between microstructures and geologic processes. One the one hand, microstructures (fabrics, textures, grain sizes, shapes, etc) can be used to identify or quantify, e.g., deformation, metamorphic, magmatic or diagenetic phenomena (to name a few). On the other hand, physical properties of geo-materials are governed by their microstructure, hence predicting a materials property is greatly enhanced by understanding of how certain processes result in a specific microstructure.

All these mechanisms are likely to cause modification on the rheological, elastic, and thermal properties of these rocks, providing key information on the evolution of the lithosphere.
In this session, we invite contributions from field observations, laboratory experiments, and numerical modelling that relate microstructures to rheology, strain localization or mineral reactions, that use microstructures to tackle general problems in structural, metamorphic, magmatic or economic geology as well as studies quantifying physical and mechanical properties of rocks based on their microstructural and textural properties using well established or novel methods.