Richard D. Law Arthur J. Merschat Harold Stowell J. Ryan Thigpen 2017 <p><span>Orogenic processes operate at scales ranging from the lithosphere to grain-scale, and are inexorably linked. For example, in many orogens, fault and shear zone architecture controls distribution of heat advection along faults and also acts as the primary mechanism for redistribution of heat-producing material. This sets up the thermal structure of the orogen, which in turn controls lithospheric rheology, the nature and distribution of deformation and strain localization, and ultimately, through localized mechanical strengthening and weakening, the fundamental shape of the developing orogenic wedge (</span><a class="link link-reveal link-table xref-fig" data-open="ch0_F1">Fig. 1</a><span>). Strain localization establishes shear zone and fault geometry, and it is the motion on these structures, in conjunction with climate, that often focuses erosional and exhumational processes. This climatic focusing effect can even drive development of asymmetry at the scale of the entire wedge (</span><a class="link link-ref link-reveal xref-bibr" data-open="ch0_r42">Willett et al., 1993</a><span>).</span></p> application/pdf 10.1130/2017.1213(00) en Geological Society of America Linkages and feedbacks in orogenic systems: An introduction chapter