Pressure gradient the air to make it move as wind. Note that the pressure gradient force points from high towards low pressure zones, it is thus oriented in the opposite direction from the pressure gradient itself. Sound waves and shock waves are events that can induce very large pressure gradients, but these are often transitory disturbances. In acoustics the pressure gradient is proportional to the sound particle acceleration according to Euler's equation. Pressure gradient In atmospheric science (meteorology, climatology and related fields), the pressure gradient (typically of air, more generally of any fluid) is a physical quantity that describes in which direction
Ultra-high-pressure metamorphism Ultra-high-pressure metamorphism Ultra-high-pressure metamorphism refers to metamorphic processes at pressures high enough to stabilize coesite, the high-pressure polymorph of SiO. It is important because the processes that form and exhume ultra-high-pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks may strongly affect plate tectonics, the composition and evolution of Earth's crust. The discovery of UHP metamorphic rocks in 1984 revolutionized our understanding of plate tectonics. Prior to 1984 there was little suspicion that continental rocks could reach such high pressures. The formation of many UHP terrains has been attributed to the subduction of microcontinents or continental margins and the exhumation of all UHP terrains has