Strain and temperature an space and time

A basin may be called complex if its temporal evolution was complicated by several tectonic or thermal events such as stretching and inversion or if it is composed of a variety of regionally distributed sub-basins with differing histories. Aulacogens or typically inverted failed rifts are examples of the first type. The second type is frequently encountered in intraplate settings located above continental crust. This may be because the continental crust is rather inhomogeneous as it results from long-term accretion of terrains, manifested by different thicknesses and materials.