The Earth system evolves through the interplay of processes operating over vastly different temporal and spatial scales. Short-lived perturbations such as earthquakes, mineral phase transformations, and changes in plate kinematics trigger cascades of coupled physical and chemical processes whose effects propagate far beyond the initiating event, ultimately shaping long-term geological evolution. Convergent plate boundaries provide exceptional natural laboratories because they encompass an unparalleled diversity of coupled processes, including subduction, fluid and chemical fluxes, magmatism, deformation, mountain building, and erosion. Together, high-resolution geological and geophysical observations and advances in experimental, analytical, and numerical approaches provide an unprecedented opportunity to investigate how transient and episodic processes interact across scales to shape the evolution of convergent plate boundaries.
This session welcomes contributions from geodynamics, tectonics, mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, seismology, magmatic systems, sedimentology, and related disciplines. We particularly encourage interdisciplinary studies that integrate observations, experiments, and modelling to identify the mechanisms through which transient processes couple across scales, thereby linking short-lived, instrumentally observable perturbations to long-term dynamic evolution.