JEO 411E - Tectonics

Course Objectives

1. Nature of the main tectonic units constituting the Earth;
2. Deep structure of the Earth and its influence on present-day tectonic activity;
3. Geological processes operating at the plate boundaries;
4. Examples of analysis of geologic history and tectonic structures taken from well studied region of our planet.

Course Description

Tectonics is the science about the composition, structure, origin, and evolution of the Earth, its crust, or large regions of the Earth. Last decades it encompasses similar studies of material objects in the Universe. Tectonics integrates results of almost all geosciences. The first part of the course consists of lectures giving a systematic overview of continental rifts, oceanic spreading centers, transform faults, subduction zones and collisional orogenic belts. The second part of the course concentrates on the tectonic evolution of region originated in different tectonic settings. This course provides training in the concepts and techniques required for regional tectonic analysis and synthesis of the geodynamic evolution of the lithosphere.