Diffusion creep is more sensitive to temperature than other deformation mechanisms. It usually takes place at high homologous temperatures (i.e. within about a tenth of its absolute melting temperature). Diffusion creep is caused by the migration of crystalline defects through the lattice of a crystal such that when a crystal is subjected to a greater degree of compression in one direction relative to another, defects migrate to the crystal faces along the direction of compression, causing a net mass transfer that shortens the crystal in the direction of maximum compression. The migration of defects is in part due to vacancies, whose migration is equal to a net mass transport in the opposite direction.