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Rock and Mineral Behavior Under High Temperature and High Pressure:...
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Rock and Mineral Behavior Under High Temperature and High Pressure: From Microphysics to Macroscopic Properties

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystallography and Physical Chemistry of Minerals & Nanominerals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 September 2026 | Viewed by 927

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tongbin Shao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics and Forecasting, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, China
Interests: experimental rock mechanics and fault friction under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The evolution of planetary interiors is driven by processes that span from the atomic to the global scale. This Special Issue, entitled "Rock and Mineral Behavior under High Temperature and High Pressure: From Microphysics to Macroscopic Properties", will integrate this spectrum by linking microscopic mechanisms to emergent macroscopic properties that define planetary behavior.

We welcome multidisciplinary studies that employ experimental, theoretical, computational, and microstructural analysis methods to investigate the physicochemical and mechanical responses of Earth and Planetary materials under extreme conditions. This includes, but is not limited to, research focusing on the behavior of key rock-forming minerals, as well as their aggregates (rocks). Topics of interest include the following:

  • Microphysical Processes: Defect dynamics, phase transformations, and reaction kinetics under extreme conditions in geological materials;
  • Microstructural Control: The evolution of microstructure (from both experimental and natural samples) and its profound influence on macroscopic properties of rocks and their constituent minerals;
  • Mechanical Behavior: Rheology and friction across the brittle–ductile transition and seismic cycle;
  • Physical Properties: Seismic, electrical, thermal, and hydraulic characteristics of rocks;
  • Deciphering Macroscopic Deformation: Interpreting large-scale tectonic and seismic processes through microstructural analysis of exhumed natural samples;
  • Cross-Scale Integration: Bridging laboratory data, natural microstructural records, and geodynamic models to interpret tectonic processes.

This Special Issue will stimulate a multidisciplinary dialogue, presenting research that fundamentally advances our ability to interpret the physical state and dynamics of Earth and planetary interiors by connecting processes across scales—in this case, from the atomic to the field scale.​

Dr. Tongbin Shao
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • high-pressure and high-temperature
  • rock deformation
  • rock physics
  • microstructure
  • geodynamics

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4363 KB  
Article
Water Weakening Effects on Dislocation Creep of Polycrystalline Diopside Aggregates
by Zhexuan Jiang, Xiaoning Wang, Xiaodong Zheng, Jianfeng Li and Maoshuang Song
Minerals 2026, 16(3), 232; https://doi.org/10.3390/min16030232 - 25 Feb 2026
Viewed by 300
Abstract
To understand the dislocation creep behavior of water-saturated clinopyroxene in the upper mantle, we conducted high-temperature triaxial compression experiments on hot-pressed diopside aggregates under water-saturated conditions at confining pressures of ~300 MPa and temperatures of 1373–1473 K using a Paterson gas-medium apparatus. Fourier [...] Read more.
To understand the dislocation creep behavior of water-saturated clinopyroxene in the upper mantle, we conducted high-temperature triaxial compression experiments on hot-pressed diopside aggregates under water-saturated conditions at confining pressures of ~300 MPa and temperatures of 1373–1473 K using a Paterson gas-medium apparatus. Fourier transform infrared measurements of the water contents revealed that all experiments were performed under water-saturated conditions. Fitting the mechanical data with a power flow law yielded a stress exponent n of 2.2 ± 0.6, an activation energy Q of 442 ± 33 kJ/mol, and a material-dependent parameter A of 106.9±0.5 MPa−2.2 s−1. For comparison, a single deformation experiment was performed under anhydrous conditions at a temperature of 1473K. The mechanical results show that the water-saturated diopside aggregates deform approximately 1.5–3 orders of magnitude faster than their anhydrous counterpart, indicating a pronounced water-weakening effect. Furthermore, under water-saturated conditions, our mantle-derived diopside aggregates have comparable strengths to that of Fe-rich Sleaford Bay clinopyroxene at 1473 K and laboratory strain rates but significantly weaker than that of olivine aggregates. The results in this study provide key experimental constraints on the flow behavior of mantle-derived clinopyroxene aggregates under water-saturated conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rock and Mineral Behavior Under High Temperature and High Pressure: From Microphysics to Macroscopic Properties)
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17 pages, 2572 KB  
Article
The Role of Clinopyroxene on the Rheology of Dry Olivine–Clinopyroxene Aggregates
by Xiaodong Zheng, Zhexuan Jiang, Jianfeng Li and Maoshuang Song
Minerals 2026, 16(2), 218; https://doi.org/10.3390/min16020218 - 20 Feb 2026
Viewed by 385
Abstract
To investigate the influence of a second-phase mineral on the rheology of mantle peridotite, we conducted high-temperature deformation experiments on dry olivine–clinopyroxene (Ol-Cpx) aggregates. Cylindrical samples were manufactured using hot-isostatic pressing techniques, with Ol as the matrix phase and [...] Read more.
To investigate the influence of a second-phase mineral on the rheology of mantle peridotite, we conducted high-temperature deformation experiments on dry olivine–clinopyroxene (Ol-Cpx) aggregates. Cylindrical samples were manufactured using hot-isostatic pressing techniques, with Ol as the matrix phase and Cpx added at volume fractions of fCpx = 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5. Deformation experiments were performed in a Paterson gas-medium apparatus at a confining pressure of ~300 MPa, temperatures ranging from 1423 to 1523 K, and strain rates of ~5 × 10−6 s−1, ~1 × 10−5 s−1, ~2 × 10−5 s−1, and ~5 × 10−5 s−1. The stress exponents (n = 3.4–4.3) for two-phase aggregates are comparable to those reported for both pure Ol and pure Cpx, indicating that dislocation creep remains the dominant deformation mechanism. Increasing Cpx content does not induce a transition of dominant mechanism but leads to a slight decrease in activation energy, consistent with predictions from two-phase rheological models and reflecting the increasing contribution of Cpx to bulk deformation. Normalized flow stresses fall between the Ol and Cpx end-members within the Taylor–Sachs bounds, indicating moderate strain partitioning between phases. Aggregates with fCpx = 0.5 show slightly reduced strength and lower effective stress exponents. This is attributed to enhanced dynamic recrystallization, which triggers grain-size reduction and thereby increases the contribution of diffusion-assisted deformation, even though dislocation creep remains the dominant mechanism. These results suggest that under dry conditions, Cpx primarily modulates the rheology of olivine-rich aggregates through microstructural evolution and strain partitioning rather than by altering the dominant deformation mechanism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rock and Mineral Behavior Under High Temperature and High Pressure: From Microphysics to Macroscopic Properties)
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