tectonics

/tek ton"iks/, n. (used with a sing. v.)

1. the science or art of assembling, shaping, or ornamenting materials in construction; the constructive arts in general.

2. See structural geology.

[1625-35; see TECTONIC, -ICS]

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Scientific study of the deformation of the rocks that make up the Earth's crust and the forces that produce such deformation.

It deals with the folding and faulting associated with mountain building; the large-scale, gradual, upward and downward movements of the crust; and sudden horizontal displacements along faults. Other phenomena studied include igneous processes and metamorphism. The chief working principle of tectonics is the concept of plate tectonics. See also continental drift; seafloor spreading.

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▪ geology

      scientific study of the deformation of the rocks that make up the Earth's crust and the forces that produce such deformation. It deals with the folding and faulting associated with mountain building; the large-scale, gradual upward and downward movements of the crust (epeirogenic movements); and sudden horizontal displacements along faults. Other phenomena studied include igneous processes and metamorphism. Tectonics embraces as its chief working principle the concept of plate tectonics (q.v.), a theory that was formulated in the late 1960s by American, Canadian, and British geophysicists to broaden and synthesize the notion of continental drift and the seafloor spreading hypothesis (qq.v.).

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