Geotectonics has a special place among the geological dis ciplines. In addition to ideas based on firmly established facts that constitute lasting scientific values, geotectonics, as a generalizing branch of geology, embraces broad con structions that link the planet's deep interior with its sur face and are largely of a hypothetical character. The inter pretation of the most general matters of the structure and evolution of the globe varies not only from one generation of geologists to another, but even within one generation. The interpretation depends not only, and not so much, on the state...