Tinted detail of a photo: Aerial view of steep limestone mountain ridges whose pale rock layers are tilted almost vertical, with green grassy slopes between them, a deep shadowed valley and a building with a mast on the left summit.
TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

Must read papers

TS Must-Read – Cowie and Scholz (1992) – Physical explanation for the displacement-length relationship of faults using a post-yield fracture mechanics model

February 9, 2022
TS Must-Read – Cowie and Scholz (1992) – Physical explanation for the displacement-length relationship of faults using a post-yield fracture mechanics model

The Must-Read paper by Cowie and Scholz (1992) uses theory from fracture mechanics to explain fault growth and fault displacement profiles. The article initially points out the weaknesses in previous work, specifically highlighting how the abrupt termination of displacement profiles at fault tips would imply an infinite stress in the surrounding material. The paper then …[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Fossen and Tikoff (1993): The deformation matrix for simultaneous simple shearing, pure shearing and volume change, and its application to transpression-transtension tectonics

January 31, 2022
TS Must-Read – Fossen and Tikoff (1993): The deformation matrix for simultaneous simple shearing, pure shearing and volume change, and its application to transpression-transtension tectonics

With their milestone article in Journal of Structural Geology (Fossen and Tikoff, 1993)⁠ and its companion article in Tectonophysics (Tikoff and Fossen, 1993)⁠, the authors marked a step forward for the quantification of strain in the deep crust. These articles popularized a new approach, the deformation matrix. An easy solution to quantify strain in finite …[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Molnar & England (1990): Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate change: chicken or egg?

January 7, 2022
TS Must-Read – Molnar & England (1990): Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate change: chicken or egg?

The idea that the Pleistocene glaciation was caused by a late Cenozoic rise of mountain ranges had been developed since the mid 19th century. Although this original idea did not hold, new arguments for a relation between a late Cenozoic uplift of mountains and global cooling were presented from the 1970s onward. These arguments focused …[Read More]

TS Must-Read – England and Molnar (1990) Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks

September 20, 2021
TS Must-Read – England and Molnar (1990) Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks

With this paper, England and Molnar (1990) shed light on the recurrent confusion in the uses of terms ‘uplift’ and ‘exhumation’. The main focus is to clarify the difference between surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation by explaining the differences and the relations between these processes (Fig. 1). The manuscript also illustrates how other …[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Dahlen (1990) Critical Taper Model Of Fold-and-thrust Belts And Accretionary Wedges

September 13, 2021
TS Must-Read – Dahlen (1990) Critical Taper Model Of Fold-and-thrust Belts And Accretionary Wedges

Dahlen 1990‘s paper presents a synthesis of all theoretical work on accretionary wedges that had begun more than a decade earlier, with the fold and thrust belts research of Elliott (1976), Chapple (1978), and model by Davis et al., (1983). Dahlen expanded previous views with a more sophisticated treatment of pore-fluid pressure using volume-averaged Stokes-equations …[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Lister and Davis (1989) The origin of metamorphic core complexes and detachment faults formed during Tertiary continental extension in the northern Colorado River region, USA

September 6, 2021
TS Must-Read – Lister and Davis (1989) The origin of metamorphic core complexes and detachment faults formed during Tertiary continental extension in the northern Colorado River region, USA

Lister and Davis (1989) is a seminal article for core complexes and detachment faults, cited well over a thousand times. The authors describe geometry and kinematics of core complexes, cropping out in the USA, which result from lithosphere extension. The paper carefully describes the main detachment fault separating lower plate from upper extending plate and …[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Sylvester (1988) Strike-slip faults

June 30, 2021
TS Must-Read – Sylvester (1988) Strike-slip faults

Strike-slip faults by Arthur Sylvester (1988) is a must-read paper for anyone, and more so for those who want to understand the mechanisms of strike-slip faulting. Although it mostly refers to the San Andreas fault, the most studied strike-slip fault at the time (and possibly to date), the contribution is a comprehensive review of the …[Read More]

TS Must-read – Dewey (1988) Extensional collapse of orogens

June 25, 2021
TS Must-read – Dewey (1988) Extensional collapse of orogens

After building orogens with Dewey and Bird (1970) and extending them during building with Platt (1986), Dewey (1988) explores the lifetime of orogens in their last breath: their extensional collapse. Simple considerations on how to form a normally-thick continental crust (30-40 km) from a thickened continental domain (50-60 km) indicate that erosion of the topography …[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Molnar and Lyon-Caen (1988): Some simple physical aspects of the support, structure and evolution of mountain belts

June 2, 2021
TS Must-Read – Molnar and Lyon-Caen (1988): Some simple physical aspects of the support, structure and evolution of mountain belts

In 1988 Peter Molnar and Hélène Lyon-Caen published their “Must-Read” paper on the support, structure and evolution of mountain belts. It is an article that touches on some core issues of plate tectonics by looking at two types of forces that resist mountain building, using key observations from Asian and American mountain chains. They name …[Read More]