Category Archives: tectonics

Structural Geology by the Deformation numbers

Posted on 1 April, 2013 by Metageologist

Structural geologists seek to understand how rocks have changed shape, in order to better understand wider processes such as how mountains are formed. Sometimes they use a terminology called ‘Deformation-numbers’ which I will now explain via a series of pretty … Continue reading →

The Grampian / Taconic orogeny in Ireland – when arcs attack

Posted on 20 March, 2013 by Metageologist

Ever since the plate tectonic paradigm-shift of the 1960s, geologists have strived to understand ancient rocks in terms of the movements of plates. The geology of north-western Ireland can be explained by what happened when a subduction zone ran out … Continue reading →

Scandinavian crust now in Alaska!

Posted on 2 March, 2013 by Metageologist

The face of the earth is ever changing. Plate tectonics is slowly but surely rearranging the locations and inter-connections of continents. However knowing this in the abstract doesn’t prepare you for the awed surprise of discovering that a section of … Continue reading →

Cratons – old and strong

Posted on 19 December, 2012 by Metageologist

Cratons are pieces of continents that have been stable for a over a billion years. As earth’s plates drift along, mountains periodically rise and fall, plate boundaries appear and disappear. But cratons are like great-grandmothers at family gatherings, while younger … Continue reading →

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Categories: eclogites, mountains, subduction, tectonics