The traditional views on the compression or extension regime with a shear component dominant in the Earth’s crust are usually opposed to each other, being considered in the context of different geodynamic structure formation settings. The classification of transpression and transtension regimes that determine the formation of strike
slip faults [6] represents the most illustrative example of such an approach. This communication demonstrates the inconsistency of kinematics of transpression and transtension “flower models” with real 3D models available for strike
slip fault zones [1]. The study of shear zones based on interpretation of 3D seismic exploration data in different
age sedimentary basins of the Earth reveals their formation under conditions of pure shear with simultaneous compression and extension in mutually orthogonal sections. The comparative analysis reveals that transpression and transtension models are less useful than 3D models illustrating the geological structure of sedimentary basins. Consequently, recent views on the mode of crust deformation and structural parageneses of shear zones reflecting past concepts of flat (two
dimensional) geological thinking are incomplete and need to be revised. The main thesis postulated in this work is the assertion of the simultaneous action of the volumetric irregularly strained state reflected in three main types of geological medium deformations (compression–extension–shear) in mutually orthogonal sections of crustal structures during their formation.