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by Antonio Ribeiro (Author), A. Mateus (Contribution by)
"Structural geology is a core component of knowledge needed for intelligent living with our planet, truly sustainable development." It gives me great pleasure to write this brief foreword for the work by Antonio of Lisboa. When we consider the foundations of our life support systems, cli- Ribeiro mate, the biosphere, soil, materials, energy, waste management and today in the word of cities, structural stability, we require exact knowledge of the structure of our planet and change in these structures. Homo sapiens has lived on our planet for a very short period. Our planet is cooling by conduction and convection and it is the structures that result from these processes that control the global climate, our resource base and even soil quality and food secu- rity, etc, etc. As the title of this book suggests, some processes are slow and some fast. I was born on a farm in Southern New Zealand, quite close to the magnificent had a profound influen- Southern Alps. I often think that watching that environment ce on my mental development.
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The rigid plate kinematics theory explains most of the current geodetic, geophysical and tectonic data on earth but fails to account for some anomalies. Spatial geodetic data has shown that oceanic plate interiors are not rigid because incipient boudinage and homogeneous shortening develop before buckling of the entire lithosphere. Seismicity and faulting show that the oceanic lithosphere can deform at strain rates above stable continental interiors but below plate boundary zones of variable widths. This is due to the weakening effects of fluids during hydrothermal sea floor metamorphism commonly found in oceans. Furthermore, the test of finiate strain and the implications of the Wilson Cycle are discussed. The Earth is a dissipative dynamical system open to external forcing.
