Structural geology and tectonics represent a continuum in the scale at which we study deformation in the Earth, with structural geology concerned largely with the microscopic to regional scales and tectonics concerned largely with the regional to global scales. Studies at the different scales are interdependent, however, and in fact, studies at one scale invariably inform studies at other scales.

State-of-the-art analysis of geological structures has become increasingly quantitative, but traditionally, graphical methods are used in teaching and in textbooks. Now, this innovative lab book provides a unified methodology for problem solving in structural geology using linear algebra and computation. Assuming only limited mathematical training, the book builds from the basics, providing the fundamental background mathematics, and demonstrating the application of geometry and kinematics in geoscience without requiring students to take a supplementary mathematics course.

Some thirty years ago, structural geology underwent a revolution that fundamentally changed how we think about the deformation of rocks. Regional field observations and laboratory data were given profound new meaning in terms of the global model of lithospheric behavior called "Plate Tectonics". Today structural geologists are witnessing a second revolution and although it is of a very different, less fundamental, type it will clearly have a profound and lasting effect on our field. This new revolution has been fuelled by the widespread use of the personal computer which has become the principal tool of scientists worldwide for data storage or retrieval, teaching, communication with colleagues, number crunching, modeling, and preparation of publications.

The fi eld trip described in this guide starts in the “Norwegian Alps,” the high mountain massif called Jotunheimen, and runs out along Sognefjorden, the world’s longest fjord, to the islands along the west coast of Norway. Geologically, the Sognefjord transect provides a complete cross section through the Caledonian orogenic belt, of Paleozoic age, which in Norway stretches along the west coast from Stavanger to North Cape, a distance of ~2000 km.