Abstract:

The updated fruits in the structural geology and tectonics were brought forth in the 32nd International Geological Congress (IGC). Five aspects of these fruits could be summarized as follows:(1) Tectonics and sedimentation. This topic focused on the interrelation of tectonic processes and sedimentation in variable tectonic regimes, such as extensional and compressional tectonics. An important progress is the quantitative deformation inferred from the sedimentary sequence;(2) Structural styles of continental compression. Structural geologists paid more attention to the recognized styles, including thin-skinned, thick-skinned, simple shear and pure shear in the orogenic belt;(3)Tectonic inversion processes and structural inheritance in mountain belts. This describes the regional kinematic evolution after a sharp changing of the tectonic level;(4)Controls of continental margin structure in the formation of foreland thrust and fold belts with key to the basin-range coupling;(5)High strain zones and technological methods,including mapping,modeling, experiments and materials.

Key words: the 32nd International Geological Congress, structural geology, advances