tectonics: the branch of geology studying the folding and faulting of the earth's crust
knowledge domain: the content of a particular field of knowledge
gram's method: a staining technique used to classify bacteria; bacteria are stained with gentian violet and then treated with Gram's solution; after being decolorized with alcohol and treated with safranine and washed in water, those that retain the gentian violet are Gram-positive and those that do not retain it are Gram-negative