TS Must-read series, the wrap up
In 2020, we started the Must Read activity by asking the TS community a simple question: which papers do you think every tectonics and structural geology student should read? that led to more than a thousand nominations and lively debate. A short list of 48 Must Read papers was distilled by adding 3 complementary contributions to the 45 entries that had the largest number of community nominations above a threshold. The final list of Must-Read papers have an unequivocal foundational influence across subfields and lasting scientific value, and after the TS Must-Read action, are now a public, evergreen reading path of EGU TS Blog posts for students and researchers.
The blogpost series was led by the Representative of Early Career Scientists (ECS) of the TS Division (originally David Fernández‑Blanco, then Gino de Gelder, followed by Sascha Zertani and Riccardo Lanari) and ran on volunteer energy from a working group that included ECS from other divisions (Adriana Guatame-García, Benoît Petri, Gianluca Frasca, Marta Marchegiano, Silvia Crosetto, Utsav Mannu), with a rotating roster of early (Pan Luo, Folarin Kolawole, Patricia Cadenas, Armin Dielforder) and incoming (Akinbobola Akintomide, Arnab Roy) members. Posts were originally released on a regular cadence (roughly every other Monday) with a short, accessible explainer of why each paper matters and how it changed the field, and with the editorial work by the TS ECS Chief Editor (originally Hannah Davies, then Pauline Gayrin).
The comments and social shares showed how the same paper means different things to a field geologist, a modeler, or a seismologist. Teachers wrote to say they rebuilt syllabi around the sequence; students said it gave them an intellectual map to not get lost, and colleagues, generally, enjoyed it. What we learned is that reading across decades exposes how ideas evolve and how old puzzles keep returning with new data and tools.
From plates to grains: The evolution of Tectonics & Structural Geology
The plate tectonic revolution started in the 1960s, when Dietz (1961) proposed seafloor spreading and Wilson (1965) unveiled transform faults, and together established kinematic rules for rigid lithospheric blocks. McKenzie & Parker (1967) and Morgan (1968) formalized the theory with Eulerian geometry, while Wilson (1966) recognized that ocean basins had life cycles. Merging these kinematic insights with known quantitative geomechanics on how loads and strength couple (Hubbert & Rubey, 1959), the “what” fused with the “how”, providing insights into quantitative geodynamics and plate boundary mechanics (Dewey & Bird, 1970; McKenzie, 1978). This forged a new standard, balancing mass, momentum, and energy across moving plates, and revealed some of the fields’ most critical questions: what sets strength, and how and where do plates yield?
This inquiry pulled focus inward, from globe-spanning kinematics to millimeter-scale rock physics, in laboratory and fieldwork efforts. Brace & Kohlstedt (1980) quantified rock strength in the laboratory, while structural geologists mapped shear-zone geometry and kinematics in the field (Ramsay, 1980; Lister & Snoke, 1984). Platt (1986) explained high-pressure rock exhumation through dynamic wedges. Later syntheses refined pressure-stress relationships (Mancktelow, 2008), and more recent efforts have comprehensively reviewed shear zones (Fossen & Cavalcante, 2017). The deformation-matrix formalism (Fossen & Tikoff, 1993) enabled quantitative reading of overprinted fabrics. As a result, rocks became mechanical archives, natural rheometers of sorts, provided that scale, complexity, and inheritance effects are constrained.
Faults act as the critical interface transforming transient slip into permanent strain. Understanding their record requires integrating the fundamental physics of fault growth, including scaling laws (Cowie & Scholz, 1992; Cowie, 1998), friction relationships (Scholz, 1998), and 3D fault evolution models (Jackson & Rotevatn, 2013), with the dynamic processes governing the earthquake cycle. These include the evolution of nested permeability structures (Caine et al., 1996) and the complex earthquake-cycle rheology linking rupture to viscoelastic relaxation (Wang et al., 2012). Conclusive interpretations require critical assessments of the inherent ambiguity of seismic slip indicators (Rowe & Griffith, 2015) and the “conceptual uncertainty” endemic to routinary structural geology methods (Bond et al., 2007). The clear implication is that transient slip, permanent strain, and pore-fluid pathways co-evolve, and thus, deciphering this “crustal memory” requires the integration of multiple, independent proxies.
Orogens served as the primary testing ground for the new global tectonics. Quantifying their mechanics was the first step: Foundational mechanical models established the equilibrium of convergent margins via critical-taper theory (Davis et al., 1983; Dahlen, 1990) and analyzed the lithospheric-scale forces governing the support and collapse of mountains (Molnar & Lyon-Caen, 1988; Dewey, 1988). This mechanical understanding informed crucial clarifications of uplift versus exhumation (England & Molnar, 1990). These theoretical advances were matched by observational breakthroughs, which revealed how collision fosters large-scale extensional faulting within Tibet (Armijo et al., 1986). Connecting this crustal deformation to the deep Earth, a complete picture emerged, integrating how deep slab processes sculpt the mantle lithosphere (Wortel & Spakman, 2000) and how the resulting high topography, in turn, couples tectonics and climate in systems like the Himalaya-Tibet orogen (Molnar & England, 1990; Yin & Harrison, 2000).
The mechanical principles of lithospheric failure are fundamental to divergent plate boundaries. These principles govern a spectrum of extensional modes, from continental core complexes (Lister & Davis, 1989; Buck, 1991) and rift systems (Brun, 1999) to the development of asymmetric margins (Cowie et al., 2005; Peron-Pinvidic et al., 2013). This structural development is complicated by factors like salt tectonics, which introduces mobility (Hudec & Jackson, 2007), and the ubiquitous three-dimensional complexity of strike-slip systems (Sylvester, 1988). These crustal observations are ultimately anchored by the deep rheology of the lithosphere (Bürgmann & Dresen, 2008). In settings like ultraslow ridges, these mechanics produce unexpected outcomes, such as mantle-dominated seafloor (Cannat et al., 2006). Extension, therefore, operates through feedbacks among strength, inheritance, fluids, and heat.
These works reveal how Earth replays the same mechanical themes in new keys through deep time. From the discovery of seafloor spreading to modern shear-zone analysis, the rigorous quantification that transforms static description into geodynamics unlocks the deformation history recorded at all scales, from plates to grains.
Thanks again to the team for this great effort! The series remains accessible on the blog of course. Look on the right under Categories and search Must read papers. All these blog articles constitute a very relevant material for teaching as well, feel free to refer your students to them.
Have a nice day!
The must read team
