“…Friction is a thermally activated process involving multiple micro‐physical mechanisms of deformation that control the frictional resistance in specific hydrothermal conditions (e.g., Bedford et al., 2021; Blanpied et al., 1995; Chester, 1994; Chester & Higgs, 1992; French et al., 2015; Niemeijer & Collettini, 2014; Xing et al., 2019, and references therein). Because of the extreme localization and grain comminution within fault zones, low‐temperature plasticity is the rate‐limiting process at the micro‐scale.…”