Preface to the Second Edition
This book is concerned with the deformation of rock in the Earth’s lithosphere, as viewed from the atomic scale, through the grain scale, through the hand specimen scale, through the outcrop scale, through the mountain range scale, and through the tectonic plate scale. A deformational feature observed at one scale typically reflects processes occurring at other scales. For example, we can’t understand continental deformation without understanding mountains; we can’t understand mountains without understanding folding and faulting, and we can’t understand folding and faulting without understanding ductile and brittle deformation mechanisms at the atomic scale. This book attempts to integrate topics pertaining to all scales of rock deformation, emphasizing the linkages between structural geology and tectonics.
Every month, perhaps a thousand pages of new ideas and observations relevant to structural geology and tectonics are published in the major scholarly journals. The amount of material on structural geology and tectonics that has appeared over the past 150 years is staggering. We have purposely decided to write this book with a novice to the field in mind. We, as instructors, face a massive challenge when trying to distill an introductory course out of this ever-changing and ever-growing mountain of information. We want students to be comfortable with certain basic concepts (say, fault terminology or stress theory) and at the same time, we want them to experience the excitement of discovery and to build their own ’big picture’ of how the Earth works. And all this must be done in a few short months! Rather than loading the text with excessive detail and peppering it with extensive referencing, we, therefore, opted to present a distillation that offers a perspective on most aspects of the field. The reason for this approach is to highlight the ’guts’ of structural geology and tectonics, thereby providing a foundation for future study and a platform for further discussion. When reading the text, the reader should maintain a critical and questioning attitude toward the concepts discussed, which will not only stimulate the mind, but should also aid in absorbing the material. Concepts are remembered better when their interrelationships are recognized, rather than when they are offered as a series of definitions (we were once in the students’ position ourselves!). In some cases we may have advanced a controversial position; perhaps future readers will prove some of our points of view right (or wrong).
Structural geology and tectonics are a lot of fun once we have waded through the initial terminology morass, much as we enjoy a holiday better once we have a basic knowledge of the local language and lore. Our personal approach to teaching structural geology and tectonics is reflected in the informal writing style. Where possible, we make use of familiar analogs such as rubber bands, syrup and pool balls. Similarly, we have kept illustrations simple in the early chapters so that the point of the figure is more obvious. Terms and definitions related to the topic at hand that we do not introduce in the main body of the text are included in tables as a reference. The subject index will direct you to the appropriate location in the text for any specific term.
There’s no single right way to teach structural geology and tectonics, or any other subject for that matter. Moreover, we increasingly see that structural geology and tectonics is one of the first classes for students who plan to major in geological sciences. We decided to write this book because we found that existing books did not suit the changing needs of the courses that we teach ourselves, and we found that many other instructors shared our views. Some books try to be a lab manual and a lecture text at the same time, and others are slanted too much toward the research interests of the writer(s). Some books are organized in such a way that a reading assignment on a single topic must include splices from all over the book, and others provide much more detail than can possibly be covered in a single semester course so that students are, frankly, overwhelmed. We have deleted topics that are generally taught in laboratory sections, because these topics cannot be treated adequately within the framework of a lecture textbook. We also do not burden the narrative with references, but rather provide introductory reading lists at the end of each chapter.
In order to provide instructors with optimal freedom to develop a course outline of their own choosing, most chapters are self-contained modules that can be presented in various sequences. Ben, for example, starts his course with a description of rocks, via primary structures, faults and fractures, folds, and fabrics, before introducing stress, strain, rheology, and deformation mechanisms. Steve, in contrast, teaches stress, strain, and rheology immediately after primary structures, and presents brittle deformation theory before discussing faults and fractures. We both concentrate on tectonics at the end of our courses, but tectonic implications, are typically interwoven with discussion of different classes of structures earlier in the course. In the end, instructors work hard to make their lectures comprehensive yet comprehensible, correct yet enjoyable. We have tried to do the same with this book.
Changes in the Second Edition:
All chapters were revised, but the general organization remains the same. We added new sections in places, while removing or combining others. The new edition also includes a Chapter 15, "Geophysical Imaging" and four new essays in Chapters 21 and 22 on the European Alps, the Altaids, the Appalachians, and the Cascadia wedge. The remaining essays were updated. New and updated art results in more informative illustration of concepts and topics, and will offer instructors the opportunity for modern classroom use (see ancillaries).
Ancillaries
Earth Structure is supported by a Norton Resource Library available to adopters of the textbook offering faculty hundreds of the figures used in the new edition. The Norton Resource Library images may be incorporated into classrooms as overhead transparencies, computer presentations, student worksheets, exams, or course web sites. Instructors may either download figures by chapter from the Norton Resource Library after obtaining a password from Norton or request the images on a CD-ROM. Both the password and CD-ROM requests are located at the Norton Resource Library web address: wwnorton.com/nrl.
Thanks to…
This book could not have been written without the help of the students in our classes, who, through their successes and mistakes, have shown us which explanations work and which do not. We are indebted to the following colleagues for their expert contributions to this new edition: Rick Allmendinger, Mark Brandon, Clark Burchfiel, Cêlal _engör, Fred Cook, David Foster, David Gray, Jim Hibbard, Paul Hoffman, Teresa Jordan, Elizabeth Miller, Boris Natal’in, Kevin Pickering, Leigh Royden, Stefan Schmid, Alan Smith and Scott Wilkerson.
Beside the contributors to the book, we are grateful to our many colleagues who have provided generous dollops of advice, and from whom we have generously borrowed data and interpretations. Among the persons (in alphabetical order) who have commented on and/or contributed to one or more chapters, are: Mark Fisher, Jerry Magloughlin, Klaus Mezger, Carl Richter, Mike Sandiford and John Stamatakos. Formal reviews of chapters in the first edition were given by David Anastasio, Stanley Cebull, Bill Dunne, Terry Engelder, Karl Karlstrom, Win Means, Jim Talbot, Adolph Yonkee, and Vincent Cronin. The second edition was revised based on our own experiences with the book, a better appreciation of some topics, and the informal feedback from many users of the first edition; it received formal reviews from Roy Schlische and Bill Dunne. The editorial and production staff for W.W. Norton, particularly copy editor Philippa Solomon and editor Leo Wiegman, as well as Erin O’Brien, Thom Foley, Rubina Yeh and Jack Repcheck, have been most helpful and accommodating. Stan Maddock and Dale Austin produced the art work, most of which has been redrafted and updated from the first edition. We also thank our graduate advisors (Paul Williams and Henk Zwart, and Terry Engelder, respectively) for helping us entering this business and guiding our first (uncertain) steps, and our graduate students for many discussions. Finally, but foremost, we thank our wives, Lies and Kathy, and children, Wouter and Robbie, and David and Emma, respectively, for not grumbling too much about the absences in body and spirit that writing this book has required. To them we thankfully dedicate the book and hope that one day they may even read some of it.
Ben van der Pluijm, Ann Arbor, Michigan
vdpluijm@umich.edu
www.umich.edu/~vdpluijm
Stephen Marshak, Urbana, Illinois
smarshak@uiuc.edu
www.geology.uiuc.edu/
Copyright © 2005, W. W. Norton & Company. All rights reserved.
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