Plate tectonics / Тектоника плит

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. With this combination of accessible text and engaging and colorful visual tools, we invite the reader on a journey that first explores fundamental Earth processes and then proceeds to the different plate tectonic settings, from continental rifting to ocean floor spreading, subduction, mountain building, and orogeny, and finally to a discussion of tectonic processes prior to the era of modern plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is an amazing model that, directly or indirectly, involves all the different branches of geoscience and all the different processes and mechanisms that are at work in shaping and reshaping our planet. This also makes teaching and studying plate tectonics an endless project, and any text dealing with the subject must make choices regarding focus, content, and length. Our emphasis is more on understanding processes and physical fundamentals than it is on the mathematics and physics aspects of plate tectonics, although some of that is included. Fueled by a deep fascination at how global tectonics works and influences our planet, we have aimed to present the most up-to-date thinking and research and to avoid the over-simplifications and misconceptions around plate tectonics that are found in many existing undergraduate texts. <...>