Written by two geologists with a field-based research approach, this overview of plate tectonics hinges on observations and processes that help explain the natural world. We describe the many different features and processes involved in plate tectonics, fusing them into themes such as ocean spreading, subduction, and orogeny.We teach plate tectonics not only through words but also through maps, cross sections, three-dimensional diagrams, and photographs – as those familiar with Structural Geology, a previous text by one of the authors, will have come to expect.

A Geología Estrutural á urna das principáis disciplinas do curso de formagao de geólogos, com um campo ampio de aplicagoes, que vao desde a compreensao da natureza das estruturas deformacionais na crosta até sua importancia científica e prática.
O livro do Prof. Haakon Fossen faz urna selegao dos temas fundamentáis da Geología Estrutural, abordados com profundidade e de forma didática e abrangente. <...>

The structure of the book is in many ways traditional, going from strain (Chapters 2 and 3) to stress (Chapters 4 and 5) and via rheology (Chapter 6) to brittle deformation (Chapters 7–10). Of these, Chapter 2 contains some material that would be too detailed and advanced for some students and classes, but selective reading is possible. Then, after a short introduction to the microscale structures and processes that distinguish crystal-plastic from brittle deformation (Chapter 11), ductile deformation structures such as folding, boudinage, foliations and shear zones are discussed (Chapters 12–16). Three consecutive chapters then follow that are founded on the three principal tectonic regimes (Chapters 17–19) before salt tectonics and restoration principles are presented (Chapters 20 and 21). A final chapter, where links to metamorphic petrology as well as stratigraphy are drawn, rounds off the book, and suggests that structural geology and tectonics largely rely on other disciplines. The chapters do not have to be read in numerical order, and most chapters can be used individually.

This textbook is written to introduce undergraduate students, and others with a general geologic background, to basic principles, aspects and methods of structural geology. It is mainly concerned with the structural geology of the crust, although the processes and structuresdescribed are relevant also for deformation that occurs at deeper levels within our planet. Further, remote data from Mars and other planets indicate that many aspects of terrestrial structural geology are relevant also beyond our own planet.