Conditions, rates and mechanisms of fundamental metamorphic processes

岩石结构和微结构的起源是变质岩石学中最鲜为人知的方面之一。然而，众所周知，它极大地影响了地壳的一些最基本的性质，如它在塑性变形期间的行为，它传播地震波的方式，或者热异常形成和消散对构造过程的响应的速度。所要求的资金用于研究，这将导致对支配岩石结构和微观结构形成的基本过程的新水平的理解。这项研究将把详细的岩石学和地质年代学调查与平衡和动力学模型相结合，以量化这些基本过程的速度和压力、温度和化学条件，包括成核、晶体生长、扩散和矿物溶解。

The origin of rock texture and microstructure is one of the least understood aspects of metamorphic petrology. Yet it is known that it drastically influences some of the most elemental properties of Earth’s crust such as its behavior during plastic deformation, the way it transmits seismic waves, or the rate with which thermal anomalies form and dissipate in response to tectonic processes. Funding is requested for research that will lead to a new level of understanding of the fundamental processes that govern the formation of rock texture and microstructure. This research will integrate detailed petrographic and geochronological investigations with equilibrium and kinetic modelling to quantify the rates and pressure, temperature and chemical conditions of these fundamental processes that include nucleation, crystal growth, diffusion and mineral dissolution.