Editing Tectonics (section)

{{Short description|Process of evolution of the Earth's crust}}
{{For|an architectural term|Tectonics (architecture)}}
{{Redirect|Tectonic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Geophysics|all}}
[[File:Plate tectonics map.gif|thumb|upright=1.8]]

'''Tectonics''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|tectonicus}}|}}; {{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|τεκτονικός}}'' ({{grc-transl|τεκτονικός}})|pertaining to [[construction|building]]}})<ref>{{OEtymD|tectonic}}</ref> are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the [[Earth's crust]] and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons.<ref>
Geologists (as distinct from architects) may define ''tectonics'' as "the architecture of the Earth's crust" -
{{cite book
 |last1                = O'Hara
 |first1               = Kieran D.
 |date                 = 19 April 2018
 |title                = A Brief History of Geology
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=O7pQDwAAQBAJ
 |location             = Cambridge
 |publisher            = Cambridge University Press
 |isbn                 = 9781107176188
 |access-date          = 23 March 2023
 |quote                = The words tectonics and architecture are derived from the same Greek root, and tectonics is defined as the architecture of the Earth's crust.
}}
</ref><ref name=Watters_etal_2010>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Watters
 |first1               = Thomas R.
 |last2                = Schultz
 |first2               = Richard A.
 |editor-last1         = Watters
 |editor-first1        = Thomas R.
 |editor-last2         = Schultz
 |editor-first2        = Richard A.
 |year                 = 2010
 |chapter              = Planetary tectonics: introduction
 |title                = Planetary Tectonics
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=9PD5hxPb6fkC
 |series               = Cambridge Planetary Science, ISSN 0265-3044 – Volume 11
 |location             = Cambridge
 |publisher            = Cambridge University Press
 |isbn                 = 9780521765732
 |access-date          = 23 March 2023
 |page                 = 2
 |quote                = Since the 1960s, an armada of exploratory spacecraft have identified widespread evidence of tectonism on all the terrestrial planets, most of the satellites of the outer planets, and on a number of asteroids. Tectonic landforms on large and small bodies in the solar system are as ubiquitous as impact craters.
}}
</ref>

These processes include those of [[orogeny|mountain-building]], the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents known as [[craton]]s, and the ways in which the relatively rigid [[tectonic plate|plates]] that constitute the Earth's outer shell interact with each other. Principles of tectonics also provide a framework for understanding the [[earthquake]] and [[volcanic belt]]s that directly affect much of the global population.

Tectonic studies are important as guides for [[economic geology|economic geologists]] searching for [[fossil fuel]]s and [[ore deposit]]s of metallic and nonmetallic resources. An understanding of tectonic principles can help [[geomorphology|geomorphologists]] to explain [[Erosion and tectonics|erosion patterns]] and other Earth-surface features.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Anderson
 |first1               = Robert S.
 |author-link1         = Robert S. Anderson
 |last2                = Burbank
 |first2               = Douglas W.
 |date                 = 2 November 2011
 |orig-date            = 2001
 |chapter              = Rates of erosion and uplift
 |title                = Tectonic Geomorphology
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=83FuAvtSwE4C
 |edition              = 2
 |location             = Chichester, West Sussex
 |publisher            = John Wiley & Sons
 |isbn                 = 9781444345049
 |access-date          = 23 March 2023
}}
</ref>

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