Learning how to write scientific
descriptions, measure relevant structures, compile maps at the outcrop
and quadrangle scale, and gather rock samples for laboratory analysis
are important skills for a structural geologist. Such observational
and measurement skills cannot be learned from reading a textbook.
Rather one must go into the field and practice these techniques
on the outcrop and in different geological and tectonic settings.
We assume that typical courses using this textbook will include
or be followed by field instruction.
One can learn to appreciate what
should be measured and mapped from a textbook that puts field measurements
into a context of conceptual and mechanical models that describe
tectonic processes and their products. This textbook describes the
geometric quantities that can be recorded in the field to constrain
or test models of geological structures. |
