The Geotectonic Stress Field and Crustal Movements

Abstract

Scheidegger, A.E., 1981. The geotectonic stress field and crustal movements. In: P. Vyskočil, R. Green and H. Mälzer (Editors), Recent Crustal Movements, 1979. Tectonophysics, 71: 217–226. It is shown that there is a direct connection between the geotectonic stress field and crustal displacements. The determination of the stress field is based on in-situ measurements and on observations of orientations of joints, the knowledge of the crustal displacements stems from geodetic measurements as well as from geological-geomorphological considerations. In this fashion, it was possible to correlate plate tectonic motions as well as vertical motions with the neotectonic stress field in various parts of the world, such as the Alps, the Himalaya and North America. In all these areas, a good conformity between the indicated phenomena was found.