Plastic Deformation in the Deep Interior of the Earth

Progress in this area has been both from the extension of rheological studies toward higher pressures (Meade and Jeanloz, 1988a,b, 1990; Green et al., 1990; Karato et al., 1993; Rubie et al., 1993; Bussod et al., 1993; Sharp et al., 1994; Weidner et al., 1994) and from the search for systematics (at low pressures) to understand the effects of phase transformations (Poirier et al., 1983, 1989; Karato, 1989; Beauchesne and Poirier, 1989, 1990: Wright et al., 1992; Wang et al., 1993; Karato et al., 1994).

• Technical Developments
• Major Results
  • Effects of phase transformations.
  • (i) Effect of crystal structure:
  • (ii). Instability associated with phase transformations:
  • Pressure effects on high-temperature creep and related properties.