The aim of this review is to characterize the role of pressure solution creep in the ductility of the Earth's upper crust and to describe how this creep mechanism competes and interacts with other deformation mechanisms. Pressure solution creep is a major mechanism of ductile deformation of the upper crust, accommodating basin compaction, folding, shear zone development, and fault creep and interseismic healing. However, its kinetics is strongly dependent on the composition of the rocks (mainly the presence of phyllosilicates minerals that activate pressure solution) and on its interaction with fracturing and healing processes (that activate and slow down pressure solution, respectively).The present review combines three approaches: natural observations, theoretical developments, and laboratory experiments. Natural observations can be used to identify the pressure solution markers necessary to evaluate creep law parameters, such as the nature of the material, the temperature and stress conditions or the geometry of mass transfer domains. Theoretical developments help to investigate the thermodynamics and kinetics of the processes and to build theoretical creep laws.Laboratory experiments are implemented in order to test the models and to measure creep law parameters such as driving forces and kinetic coefficients. Finally, applications are discussed for the modelling of sedimentary basin compaction and fault creep. The sensitivity of the models to time is given particular attention: viscous versus plastic rheology during sediment compaction; steady state versus non-steady state behaviour of fault and shear zones. The conclusions discuss recent advances for modelling pressure solution creep and the main questions that remain to be solved. -IntroductionIn order to investigate the role of pressure solution creep in the ductility of the Earth's upper crust the various mechanical behaviour patterns of the upper crust must first be discussed. Two types of approach can be considered on this topic.1 -The mechanical behaviour of the upper crust is modelled using brittle theories, that include friction laws (Byerlee, 1978;Marone, 1998). This modelling approach is supported by two kinds of observations: (i) the maximum frequency of earthquakes is located within the first 15-20 km of the upper crust (Chen and Molnar, 1983;Sibson, 1982); (ii) laboratory experiments run at relatively fast strain-rates (faster than 10 -7 s -1 ) indicate a transition from frictional to plastic deformation at pressure and temperature conditions appropriate for a depth of 10-20 km (Kohlstedt et al., 1995;Paterson, 1978;Poirier, 1985).2 -Conversely, the behaviour of the upper crust is also modelled by ductile behaviour with creep laws (Wheeler, 1992). This modelling approach is supported by two kinds of observations: (i) geological structures exhumed from depth, such as compacted basin, folds and shear zones, and regional cleavage, indicate ductile behaviour throughout the upper crust (Argand, 1924;Hauck et al., 1998;Schmidt et al., 1996) (Fig. ...

[1] Subcritical cracking behavior and surface energies are important factors in geological processes, as they control time-dependent brittle processes and the long-term stability of rocks. In this paper, we present experimental data on subcritical cracking in single calcite crystals exposed to glycol-water mixtures with varying water content. We find upper bounds for the surface energy of calcite that decrease with increasing water concentration and that are systematically lower than values obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. The relation of surface energy to water concentration can explain water weakening in chalks. The rate of subcritical crack growth in calcite is well described by a reaction rate model. The effect of increasing water on crack velocity is to lower the threshold energy release rate required for crack propagation. The slope of the crack velocity curve remains unaffected, something which strongly suggests that the mechanism for subcritical cracking in calcite does not depend on the water concentration.

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Microorganisms, such as bacteria, algae, or spermatozoa, are able to propel themselves forward thanks to flagella or cilia activity. By contrast, other organisms employ pronounced changes of the membrane shape to achieve propulsion, a prototypical example being the Eutreptiella gymnastica. Cells of the immune system as well as dictyostelium amoebas, traditionally believed to crawl on a substratum, can also swim in a similar way. We develop a model for these organisms: the swimmer is mimicked by a closed incompressible membrane with force density distribution (with zero total force and torque). It is shown that fast propulsion can be achieved with adequate shape adaptations. This swimming is found to consist of an entangled pusher-puller state. The autopropulsion distance over one cycle is a universal linear function of a simple geometrical dimensionless quantity A/V(2/3) (V and A are the cell volume and its membrane area). This study captures the peculiar motion of Eutreptiella gymnastica with simple force distribution.