Structural Stage

rock complexes of varying composition and stratigraphic volume, which are interrelated by a unity of structural plan and tectonic deformations and by the uniformity of magmatic manifestations and the degree of metamorphism. Each structural stage reflects a definite stage of tectonic evolution in a particular structural zone. As a rule, the stages are separated by angular unconformities. Examples of major structural stages are the folded basement and sedimentary mantles of platforms and the geosynclinal structural stage and the orogenic structural stage of folded systems. Sometimes major structural stages are called structural complexes.