One of the most interesting results obtained in the last two decades in the study of crustal deformation has been the recognition that large regions of continental crust undergo rotations about vertical axis during deformation. Proof of such rotations has come through the paleomagnetic studies, which reveal rotations when paleomagnetic declinations within the deforming region arc compared with those found in coeval rocks in the stable regions outside the deforming zone. Such rotations were first described in Oregon then in the North American Cordilleras and in Southern California and were a surprise to everyone. Even in California which, as a result of oil exploration, was among the best geologically explored regions in the world, no one could claim to have predicted that these rotations would be found. Rotations have subsequently been found in other areas of recent continental tectonic activity, notably in the Basin and Range province, New Zealand, the Andes, Greece and Western Turkey, so that they appear as an important feature of continental deformation.

Klappentext

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Loutra Edipsou, Greece, May 8-13, 1988

Inhalt
Block Rotations in Continental Crust: Examples from Western North America.- The Kinematics and Dynamics of Distributed Deformation.- Relations between Seismicity and Paleomagnetic Rotations in Zones of Distributed Continental Deformation.- The Detection of Rotations by Surveying Techniques.- Geodetic Measurements Of Continental Deformations: Projects and First Results.- Continental Rotational Deformation: Examples from Greece.- Cenozoic Magmatism, Deep Tectonics, and Crustal Deformation in the Aegean Sea.- A Pattern of Block Rotations in Central Aegea.- Late Cenozoic Rotatons along the North Aegean Trough Fault Zone (Greece); Structural Constraints.- Some Experiments on Block Rotation in the Brittle Upper Crust.- Large Rates of Rotation in Continental Lithosphere. Undergoing Distributed Deformation.- Strain and Displacement in the Brittle Field.- Regional Deformation by Block Translation and Rotation.- Mechanics of Distributed Fault and Block Rotation.- Crustal Rotation and Fault Slip in the Continental Transform Zone in Southern California.- Evidence for Contemporary Block Rotation in Strike-Slip Environments: Examples from the San Andreas Fault System, Southern California.- The Importance of Magnetostratigraphy for Studies of Tectonic Rotations: Examples from the Mio-Pliocene of California.- The Application of Palaeomagnetism to Extensional Tectonics: A Palaeomagnetic Study of the Parker District, Basin and Range Province, Arizona..- Mechanisms of Cenozoic Tectonic Rotation, Pacific Northwest Convergent Margin, U.S.A..- Rotation of Central and Southern Alaska in the Early Tertiary: Oroclinal Bending By Megakinking?.- Paleogeography and Rotations of Arctic Alaska - An Unresolved Problem.- Palaeomagnetic Estimates of Rotations in Compressional Regimes and Potential Discrimination Between Thin-Skinned and Deep Crustal Deformation..- Palaeomagnetic Evidence for Block Rotations and Distributed Deformation of the Iberian-African Plate Boundary.- Fault Block Rotations in Ophiolites: Results of Palaeomagnetic Studies in the Troodos Complex, Cyprus..- Paleomagnetism in SE Asia: Sinistral Shear Between Philippine Sea Plate and Asia..- Palaeomagnetic Constraints on the Early History of the Møre- Trøndelag Fault Zone, Central Norway.- Paleomagnetically Observed Rotations along the Hikurangi Margin of New Zealand.- Rotations about Vertical Axes in Part of the New Zealand Plate- Boundary Zone, Theory and Observation.- Paleomagnetic Rotations in the Coastal Areas of Ecuador and Northern Peru.- List of Participants.