Journal of the Virtual Explorer

General contributions in 2008 included answers to some frequently asked questions about the Mount Isa Deposit, and the discovery of a Neo-Tethyan ophiolite in Northern Iran.

This volume marks the impact of Google Earth on our subject. Papers show how Google Earth has augmented the value of geospatial data, how Google earth can be used to display seismic focal mechanisms and Centroid Moment Tensors, to examine magmatic emplacement sequences and radioelement distribution patterns, or to visualise active normal fault scarps in the Apennines, Italy, as a key to assessment of tectonic strain release and earthquake rupture.

This volume honours the contribution of Professor Carol Simpson to structural geology and tectonics. George Davis provides a historical perspective on "Sense of Shear" in relation to deciphering Metamorphic Core Complexes. The volume includes "An Atlas of Deformation Microstructures with Selected Animations", how to date fault fabrics using modern argon geochronology, offset markers in ductile shear zones, coupled mechanical and chemical processes in foliation development and strain localization, and two mechanisms for forming flanking folds.