TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

Euler’s theorem

TS Must-read – Morgan (1968) Rises, Trenches, Great Faults, and Crustal Blocks

December 2, 2020
TS Must-read – Morgan (1968) Rises, Trenches, Great Faults, and Crustal Blocks

In his 1968 paper “Rises, Trenches, Great Faults, and Crustal Blocks”, Jason Morgan added the missing pieces of the plate tectonics: the representation of plates’ motion in terms of spherical surface, and plate rigidity. In the very first lines of the paper he describes his contribution as an “extension of the transform fault concept [of Wilson, 1965; see the TS-must-read blogpost of October 15, 2 ...[Read More]

TS Must-Read – Mckenzie and Parker (1967) The North Pacific: an example of tectonics on a sphere

September 30, 2020
TS Must-Read – Mckenzie and Parker (1967) The North Pacific: an example of tectonics on a sphere

The paper describes how large, rigid, aseismic regions can be defined with Euler’s theorem, which describes the geometry of motion on a sphere, i.e. the Earth’s surface. Points on these large and rigid blocks move in relation to other blocks describing small circles set by their rotation pole. The paper describes this as “paving stone theory”, where tectonic plates are “paving stones”, and success ...[Read More]