Static and Dynamic Knowledge Modeling in Geotectonics

Geotectonics, being one of the main geological disciplines, encounters conceptual difficulties that likely can be resolved by application of methods of knowledge engineering. However, a strategy of their application is needed. The role of ontologies in the knowledge-engineering process is to facilitate the construction of a domain model. This model can be either static, i.e., address only the observed geological structures and landforms, or dynamic, accounting for processes that operate in and below the earthcrust. Both types of model are required to overcome the conceptual problems of geotectonics, but while the former is more or less present in the literature, the latter represents complete terra incognita. Meanwhile, exactly the dynamic knowledge modeling is the most important for a field like geotectonics.