In a well stratified flysch in the French Pyrenees, the offset of layers along a fault zone provide good data of relative displacement. It is shown that the fault surface is composed of three right-stepping fractures that opened tensile bridges along small left-stepping fractures. Translation on the fault zone is parallel to the fault surface. The displacement vector field shows that the movement between the two blocks was not a rigid body translation and that deformation in the hanging wall is greater than that in the foot wall. Volume loss within the rock is compensated by volume increase close to the fault surface.

Calcite dissolution and reprecipitation by pressure solution is indicated by the occurrence of stylolites and numerous calcite-filled veins around the fault. Calcite dissolution is more important in the hanging wall, especially in layers where the calcite content is close to 60%. Both cathodoluminescence observations and rare-earths element patterns are in favour of calcite in veins and dominos coming from units adjacent to the fault. There is no evidence that some calcite coming from farther distance could have entered in the system.

This volume is a collection of lectures presented during the 2009 International School on High-pressure Crystallography, which took place at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture, between June 4 and 14, 2009, in the very picturesque Sicilian town of Erice. The 2009 school was the 41st course of the “International School of Crystallography” organized at the Majorana Center and was directed by Elena Boldyreva (Novosibirsk University) and Przemyslaw Dera (University of Chicago). Unmatched support and excellent on-site organization was provided by the expert team consisting of Prof. Paola Spadon (Uniersity of Padova), Prof. Lodovico Riva di San Severino (University of Bologna), Elena Papinutto and Prof. John Irvin (University of California, San Franciso), aided by great team of young local organizers (“orange scarfs”). <...>

Most of the deformation on Earth is concentrated in relatively narrow high-strain zones (e.g. plate boundaries). The purpose of this volume was to address different aspects dealing with high-strain zones, from the map scale to the processes active in high-strain zones to the physical properties of highly strained rocks. Several of the contributions were originally presented in a special session entitled 'High-Strain Zones' at the EGSAGU-EUG meeting 2003 in Nice, France, which inspired the compilation of this book. <...>