We invite you to submit an abstract to our session "From Faulting to Flow: Toward quantifying strain weakening in the lithosphere" for the upcoming AGU fall meeting in San Francisco. We hope to bring together a diverse group of researchers working on methods to quantify the processes leading to strain localization and weakening commonly observed throughout the lithosphere. We are interested in submissions investigating both brittle and ductile weakening processes in rocks from all levels of the lithosphere and scales of observation. 

Invited Speakers:

Nick Beeler USGS
Title TBA

Nick Austin Imperial Oil Resources, Canada
Nick, will discuss the current state of knowledge of grain size and rheological evolution in shear zones

Thank you for your consideration, and we hope to see you in San Francisco this December,

Sincerely, 
Co-conveners:
Eric Goergen (Brown University)
Lars Hansen (University of Minnesota)

T18: From Faulting to Flow: Toward quantifying strain weakening in the lithosphere
 
Strain weakening processes in the lithosphere drive the development of the rheological instabilities and the subsequent localization of strain fundamental to the mechanics of plate tectonics. Although decades of field-, laboratory-, and modeling-based studies have identified a variety of weakening mechanisms in both the brittle and ductile regimes, our understanding of those mechanisms remains largely qualitative and therefore hinders our ability to place constraints on one of the most important mechanisms in the Earth. This session aims to bring together researchers from the field, experimental, and modeling perspectives to
develop interdisciplinary discussion on current and future research related to strain weakening and localization.

AGU ABSTRACT DEADLINE AUG. 4TH

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting website:
http://sites.agu.org/fallmeeting/

AGU Fall Meeting Abstract Submission:
http://agu-fm11.abstractcentral.com/