BSTRACTRecent work suggests that layered solids deform through buckling of basal planes. When isolated locally

as in graphite

these buckles

termed ripplocations

behave superficially similar to dislocations

but have no Burgers vectors. Through atomistic simulations

we demonstrate the easy transitions of ripplocations in graphite between many closely-spaced energy states

even at low temperatures. Between 60 and 350 K

their migration barrier is estimated at 32 meV

independent of segment length. Ripplocations spontaneously migrate towards vacancies and away from compressive stresses. These results shed more light on this new micromechanism and potentially explain experimental observations that evade sufficient description through dislocation-based models.