Significant advances have been made in the fields of tectono-geomorphology and neotectonics in recent years. The development of satellite geodesy and improvements in geophysical tools for dating Quaternary materials combined with the widespread availability of high-resolution digital topography have improved our ability to resolve the impacts of active tectonics and surface process on sculpting the Earth's surface. In recent years, many Earth science departments have shifted emphasis from classical geologic, structural and tectonic investigations to investigations of neotectonics and landscape evolution, further accelerating our understanding of surface kinematics and the consequent surficial change expressed as the land surface morphology. The principles of morphotectonics as proposed in this book take the unorthodox view that most or all of the preferred orientations of principal landscape features have resulted from weathering of bedrock joints, regardless of their age or origin. The author continues with a somewhat less than orthodox view that it is unimportant to distinguish between brittle fractures without evident slip (the currently held definition of a joint by the fracture mechanics community) and those with small amount of slip (generally recognized as faults). Lastly, the author dismisses the theory of plate tectonics and continental drift as problematic and wrought with inconsistencies and thus of minimal significance to landscape evolution studies.