A particular research strength of the Department involves the study of the architecture of Earth's lithosphere, the movement of continental and oceanic plates, the effects of their collisions, and the relationship between tectonics, metamorphism and magmatism, both in modern times and in the past. This involves field studies of modern and ancient mountain belts, sedimentary basins, rift zones, hot spots, and numerical modeling of the physical processes that formed them.

The following faculty members have active research programs in regional tectonics and geodynamics: