Geosciences and Remote Sensing

Structural Geology and Tectonics

Structural Geology is study of rock deformation. Study of how the lithosphere is bent , broken , and deformed during plate tectonics. Structural Geology is important for understanding the location of earthquakes, Formation of mountains and Tectonic history of the earth. The primary goal of structural geology is to uncover information about the history of deformation (strain) in the rocks using measurements of present day rock geometries, and ultimately, to understand the stress field that resulted in the observed strain and geometries. It is a main part of Engineering Geology, which is concerned with the mechanical and physical properties of natural rocks. A tectonic plate can be defined as a rigid rock mass of lithosphere floating over viscous and semi liquid and the less dense asthenosphere. The floating movement is defined as rate of movement of a tectonic plate. The plate boundaries can be of different types where the plates either diverge, converge or pass by each other. The process that takes place at plate boundaries is called the crustal deformation. The difference between structural geology and tectonics is that structural geology deals predominantly with the study of small scale deformation, from sub microscopic to regional. Tectonics deals with deformation on a global scale, for instance at the level of a whole region or a continent, or a whole plate.