This course provides participants with an understanding of rock deformation processes that is appropriate for planning exploration strategies and for developing better interpretations of existing data. It differs from other courses that are primarily descriptive by relating structural geology to a practical approach to Geomechanics. The course emphasizes the role of structural geology in controlling fluid flows in the subsurface.

1.     Comparative structural geology

2.     Structural families and styles

3.     Mechanical principles governing fold and fault geometry

4.     Predicting structure from stratigraphy

5.     Folding vs. faulting

6.     Palinspastic restoration of cross sections

7.     Structural validation criteria

8.     Sequential restoration and growth history

9.     Regional arches and domes

10.  Compaction and substratal solution

11.  Wrench faults: simple, convergent, and divergent

12.  Conjugate and domino-style strike-slip regimes

13.  Thin-skinned fold-thrust belts

14.  Fault-related folds

15.  Duplexes

16.  Basement-involved contraction

17.  Vertical and rotational block uplifts

18.  Inversion: dip-slip to strike-slip

19.  Thin-skinned extension

20.  Basement-involved extension

21.  Half-graben and full graben rift systems

22.  Domino-style extension

23.  Diapirs

24.  Salt sheets

25.  Roho and counter-regional pseudo extensional fault systems

26.  Plate-tectonic habitats of structural assemblages

27.  Tectonic synthesis and exploration project

Exploration and development geologists, geophysicists, and petroleum engineers.