Microstructures are also called fabrics by some people, or microfabrics . There are many types of deformation mechanisms which have been recognised in rocks and other crystalline materials, such as ceramics and metals. We provide a table of deformation mechanisms and processes and the effects they have on microstructure.
Dislocations can also act as fast diffusion pathways.
The deformation of a material by the movement of dislocations is known as crystalline plasticity dynamics - the distortion around a dislocation provides an energy source for other processes such as grain boundary migration. The movie just below shows vacancies moving through a crystal, and this is known as Nabarro-Herring Creep. If the vacancies diffuse around the grain margins, it is known as Coble Creep. Click on the picture below to see how vacancy diffusion works. The images below are of detrital quartz grains in a calcite shear zone.