I combine field and laboratory studies to understand the origin of Earth's continental crust, its composition and architecture. Within this broad research avenue, I concentrate on aspects of continental tectonics with emphasis on Precambrian crustal evolution, old and young orogenic belts, continental extensional tectonics, and the link between orogeny, erosion and sedimentation. With my students and colleagues, we seek to unravel plate tectonics processes around the Eastern Mediterranean with special emphasis on the Cadomian and Avalonian continental collage of SE Europe and Asia Minor, Precambrian crustal evolution of the Arabian-Nubian Shield, the provenance of the great Paleozoic sandstone of northern Africa and Arabia and its linkage to Pan-African orogens.