Tectonics and Structural Geology

TS Must-Read – Bond et al. (2007) What do you think this is? “Conceptual uncertainty” in geoscience interpretation

The Must-read team December 1, 2023

The Must-Read paper by Bond et al. (2007) is a truly original piece of work, focusing on the conceptual uncertainty that occurs when earth scientists carry out a geological interpretation on data with limited resolution and/or spatial coverage. In this example it is about an interpretation of seismic reflection data (Fig. 1), but it can be applied to other situations as well. Conceptual uncertaint ...[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Cannat et al. (2006) Modes of seafloor generation at a melt-poor ultraslow-spreading ridge

The Must-read team January 18, 2023

For the first time in 2006 Cannat and co-workers described a smooth seafloor type in the mid-ocean ridge located in the SW Indian Ocean (SWIR). The 660-km-long off-axis bathymetry, gravity, and magnetic dataset presented in the study lies near the Rodrigues triple junction (RTJ in Fig. 1). The must read paper expanded the previous conceptual models that considered mid ocean ridges as primarily vol ...[Read More]

TS Must Read – Spatio-temporal evolution of strain accumulation derived from multi-scale observations of Late Jurassic rifting in the northern North Sea: A critical test of models for lithospheric extension, Cowie et al. (2005)

The Must-read team August 24, 2022

Cowie et al. (2005) is an exciting “must-read” for any geologist interested in rift systems. It examines strain accumulation and extension within a rift basin and scrutinizes model predictions with field observations. The authors highlight two sets of models, the first set of models uses brittle deformation to explain extension (e.g., King et al., 1988; Kusznir et al., 1991; Ter Voorde et al., 199 ...[Read More]

TS Must read – Wortel and Spakman (2000), Subduction and slab detachment in the Mediterranean-Carpathian region

The Must-read team August 19, 2022

The must read paper Wortel & Spakman (2000) uses seismic tomography models showing the three-dimensional upper mantle velocity structure of the Mediterranean-Carpathian region to hypothesize lithospheric processes related to slab detachment, and particularly, the lateral migration of the detachment along plate boundaries (Fig. 1). The paper defends that this process is a key control in the lit ...[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Yin and Harrison (2000) Geologic evolution of the Himalaya-Tibetan Orogen

Gianluca Frasca and The Must-read team July 22, 2022

Yin and Harrison (2000) puts together an exhaustive review of three decades of geological and geophysical investigations on the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. This research supports the orogenesis started during the Cenozoic between 70 and 50 Ma ago as a consequence of the Indo-Asian collision following the closure of the Tethys ocean between Laurasia and Gondwana. Yin and Harrison (2000) underlines th ...[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Brun (1999): Narrow rifts versus wide rifts: inferences for the mechanics of rifting from laboratory experiments

The Must-read team May 4, 2022

In 1999 Jean-Pierre Brun published his Must-Read paper about rifting, in which he reviews fifteen years of laboratory experiments at Geosciences Rennes. In a brief introduction the paper reminds the reader of the two main rift types: narrow rifting as the preceding stage for continental break-up, and wide rifting that occurs after cessation of convergence. The article introduces some key differenc ...[Read More]

TS Must Read – Scholz (1998): Earthquakes and friction laws

The Must-read team April 25, 2022

Scholz (1998) is the “must-read” review article about rate- and state- variable laws of rock friction. The article is a robust introduction to the state-of-the art of the discipline at the end of the past century and should be considered of particular interest for students and/or early career scientists. In spite of its relative simplicity, rock mechanics unfortunately is still not taught universa ...[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Cowie (1998) A healing-reloading feedback control on the growth rate of seismogenic faults

The Must-read team April 4, 2022

This study provides a simple numerical model of fault rupture that describes the development of fault systems from the initial nucleation of numerous small faults to the localisation of deformation into few major faults. The model presented is based on two main considerations: first, earthquakes cause stress changes that can either advance or delay failure on neighbouring faults. Second, for failu ...[Read More]

TS Must Read paper – Foreland Basin Systems, DeCelles & Giles (1996)

The Must-read team February 28, 2022

Foreland Basin Systems, by DeCelles and Giles (1996), expands the concept of foreland basin into the more comprehensive and integrative concept of foreland basin systems. Foreland basin systems can be defined, as per this TS must-read paper, as compressional regions where various tectonic forces lead to flexural responses of a variable wavelength, which may in turn lead to up to four areas with po ...[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Caine et al., 1996 Fault zone architecture and permeability structure

The Must-read team February 21, 2022

Caine et. al. (1996) is a cornerstone paper which describes, compares and quantifies brittle fault zones and their permeability (fluid flow) properties from observations. Doing so, the paper initiates the accumulation of information on the permeability of brittle fault zones described previously (Randolph and Johnson 1989; Scholz 2019; Byerlee 1993). The study begins by defining fault zones as com ...[Read More]