Coherence-Limited Tectonics: A Recursion-Selective Framework for Earth Structure, Deformation, and Seismicity

Geophysical phenomena span elastic wave propagation, viscous flow, and long-lived structural memory across scales ranging from seconds to geological epochs. Despite extensive observational and computational advances, these regimes are typically treated using patchwork formalisms whose unifying principles remain implicit. In this work, we introduce Coherence-Limited Tectonics (CLT), a conceptual framework in which Earth structure and deformation emerge from the selective survival of stress and strain histories under transport. Central to CLT is a recursion coordinate, τ, indexing the depth of deformation histories that remain coherent across scales. Within this framework, geological layers arise as projections of coherence-filtering lenses, faults emerge as persistent stress-channel attractors, and earthquakes correspond to collapse events in τ rather than simple mechanical failure. CLT does not introduce new forces or violate conservation laws; instead, it reorganizes existing physics around coherence selection as a governing constraint. This perspective provides a unified language for seismicity, tectonics, and rheology, while suggesting new pathways for interpreting observational data and classifying tectonic behavior.