Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Journal of Structural Geology Student Author of the Year Award for 2016: David Wallis The Journal of Structural Geology presents the “Student author of the Year Award” each year to recognize the work of the newest contributors to our discipline, and to encourage the publication of their work. The award is made for an outstanding paper in which the undergraduate or graduate student had a key role in the research and publication. The recipient of this award for 2016 is David Wallis for his contribution, co-authored with GeoffreyE.Lloyd,RichardJ.Phillips,AndrewJ.Parsonsand RichardD.Walshaw Loweffectivefaultstrengthduetofrictional-viscousflowinphyllonites, KarakoramFaultZone,NWIndia, Journal of Structural Geology, Volume 77, Pages 45-61. The paper by David Wallis and co-authors was chosen by the Editors of the Journal of Structural Geology from amongst a large number of student submissions as the best student paper of 2015. Amongst other manuscripts, the contribution of David Wallis stands out in several ways. The paper deals with exhumed phyllonites from the Karakoram fault zone in NW India. Any structural geologist who dealt with phyllonites knows that these low-grade, unassuming rocks have an inherently complex and confusing internal structure, with aspects of both ductile and brittle deformation. In structural geology, research programmes commonly either focus on metamorphic rocks and ductile deformation, or on brittle structures and fracture processes. Modelling- and analytical tools that work well for brittle deformation, do not always work for ductile deformation effects. The study of rocks that formed in the brittle - ductile transition zone is therefore inherently difficult. David Wallis and his co-workers, however, were highly successful in their study of phyllonites as described in this paper. They used an impressive range of research methods, from EBSD and the scanning electron microscope through optical microstructures and field descriptions to rheological considerations, to yield predictions of how crustal-scale shear zones will operate on a global scale. The paper focuses on frictional viscous flow (FVF) in phyllonites, which has been proposed as an important multi-mechanism process in shear zones, based on experimental work. Using field- and microstructural data, Wallis and co-workers demonstrate that FVF may have operated in the Nubra strand of the Karakoram fault zone once interconnected muscovite domains were created. This fabric networking makes phyllonites an important medium to accommodate large-scale tectonic motion in the core of major fault zones, and means that FVF can be a significant weakening mechanism for large-scale geodynamic processes. The paper by Wallis and co-workers shows how experimental results and microstructural data can be combined to proceed towards a better understanding of the accommodation of large-scale tectonic movement in deformed rocks. As such, they made a great contribution to structural geology. We would like to extend our warm congratulations to David Wallis, his PhD supervisors Richard J. Phillips and GeoffreyE.Lloydand to their co-authors, AndrewJ.ParsonsandRichardD.Walshaw for this splendid piece of work, which the Journal of Structural Geology is proud to have had the opportunity to publish.