The field of geology that studies the large-scale structure, movements, and forces that shape the earth's crust and lithosphere.
From Greek 'geo-' (earth) + 'tektoniks' (relating to building). This discipline emerged as a focused field in the mid-20th century, synthesizing earthquake studies, mountain formation research, and crustal mapping.
Geotectonics is basically Earth's architecture class—it explains not just what mountains and ocean basins look like, but *how they got there*. Before plate tectonics unified geotectonics in the 1960s-70s, scientists were puzzled about why continents looked like they could fit together like puzzle pieces.
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