Tectonic block

{{Short description|Solid unit of the Earth's crust}}

A tectonic block is a part of the Earth's crust that can be treated as a solid rigid crustal block or lithospheric section. A tectonic block may be bounded by faults. It may move from one place to another because of a tectonic shift, and they may also be rotated. A tectonic block may have a proper name for example, the Muness Phyllite Block (which is located in Unst and Uyea in Scotland),{{cite journal|last1=Flinn|first1=D.|title=A Tectonic Analysis of the Muness Phyllite Block of Unst and Uyea, Shetland|journal=Geological Magazine|date=1 May 2009|volume=89|issue=4|pages=263–272|doi=10.1017/S0016756800067741}} or the South China Block.{{cite journal|last1=Faure|first1=Michel|last2=Lepvrier|first2=Claude|last3=Nguyen|first3=Vuong Van|last4=Vu|first4=Tich Van|last5=Lin|first5=Wei|last6=Chen|first6=Zechao|title=The South China block-Indochina collision: Where, when, and how?|journal=Journal of Asian Earth Sciences|date=January 2014|volume=79|pages=260–274|doi=10.1016/j.jseaes.2013.09.022|url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00863348/document}}

Early use of the term tectonic block referred to the blocks of rock on either side of a fault.{{cite journal|last1=Gilbert|first1=G. K.|title=Earthquake Forecasts|journal=Science|date=1909|volume=29|issue=734|pages=121–138|doi=10.1126/science.29.734.121|jstor=1635153|pmid=17730301|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1771176}}

Continental regions may be subdivided into tectonic blocks which are mapped in order to determine earthquake risk.{{cite web|last1=McCaffrey|first1=R.|last2=Bird|first2=P.|last3=Bormann|first3=J.|last4=Haller|first4=K.M.|last5=Hammond|first5=W.C.|last6=Thatcher|first6=W.|last7=Wells|first7=R.E.|last8=Zeng|first8=Y.|title=Appendix A—NSHMP Block Model of Western United States Active Tectonics|url=http://topex.ucsd.edu/CGM/02_models/mccaffrey/mccaffrey_2013.pdf|pages=27–47}}