Deformation and chemical transformation in metamorphic rocks are often strongly coupled. Microstructural evidence from natural and experimentally deformed rocks, together with numerical models, demonstrates that mechanical stresses can influence diffusion pathways, reaction kinetics, strain energy, and phase stability at the grain scale, while chemical processes can in turn generate or redistribute stresses. This feedback between mechanics and chemistry operates across scales, from intracrystalline deformation to stress gradients across rock volumes, to the rheological evolution of the lithosphere as a whole. This session aims to bring together researchers from different backgrounds in order to fill the gap from nanoscale observations to large-scale geodynamic processes.
We welcome multidisciplinary contributions that address open questions on how chemical and mechanical processes interact at the nano- and microscale, how these interactions are best captured in numerical models, and how they influence the interpretation of the rock record and larger-scale geodynamic processes. These comprise contributions focusing on the coupling of mechanical and chemical processes in Earth materials, spanning from microstructural and analytical studies (e.g., EBSD, EPMA, Raman spectroscopy, TEM), to experimental studies (e.g., deformation experiments across scales), to numerical and thermodynamic modelling. We particularly encourage studies that seek to bridge processes at multiple scales, including the development and evolution of shear zones, the mechanisms governing seismicity, and the rheological behavior of the lithosphere.