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A simple rheological model of shearing of the lithosphere that has gained wide acceptance is a two layer model with an upper brittle zone in which deformation takes place by frictional sliding on discrete fault surfaces and a lower plastic zone in which deformation takes place by bulk plastic flow. The two are separated by an abrupt brittle-plastic transition, which is assumed to be indicated by the lower limit of seismicity. Experimental studies, however, as well as the deformation structures of mylonites, indicate that a broad transitional field of semi-brittle behavior lies between these extremes. This is a field of mixed mode deformation with a strength that can be expected to be considerably higher than that predicted from the extrapolation of high temperature flow laws. For quartzofeldspathic rocks the semi-brittle field lies between T₁, the onset of quartz plasticity at about 300 °C and T₂, feldspar plasticity at about …