Paper 106 of 383
Published May 31, 2026
Major geological systems are not distributed uniformly across Earth's surface. Mountain belts, deep basins, trench systems, volcanic chains, sedimentary provinces, and continental margins frequently occur in concentrated geographic clusters.
This paper introduces a structural clustering framework for evaluating whether these concentrations can be described through observable geological constraints.
Reference systems include the Himalayan Orogen, Andes Mountains, Mariana Trench, Pacific Ring of Fire, Arabian Platform, Mesopotamian Basin, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and Antarctic margin systems.
Observable constraints include clustering density, continuity length, spatial concentration, gradient transitions, and regional structural coherence.
The objective is not to propose a new global geological model, but to establish a repeatable methodology for identifying and comparing large-scale structural concentrations.
For institutional, exploration, and Earth-system research applications, clustering analysis provides a practical framework for organizing complex geological observations into measurable categories.