Continental Tectonics

Relaxation of the compressive stress and cooling of the orogen nntil about the Late Ordovician 

Erosion of the Ross Mountains and peneplanation until Early Devonian 

Deposition of the clastic sedimentary rocks of the Beacon Supergroup between the Early Devonian and the Late Triassic 

Initiation of rifting of the crust underlying the area of the present Transantarctic Mountains and large-scale eruption and intrusion of basalt magma with crustal characteristics during the Middle Jurassic 

Break-up Gondwana and displacement of the continental fragments accompanied by the final assembly of Antarctica during the Cretaceous 

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Continent-continent convergence A convergent boundary between two colliding continental tectonic plates. The Himalayas formed from the collision of the Indian continental plate with the Eurasian continental plate. Continent-continent convergence results in high mountains without substantial subduction and volcanism. 

Continent-ocean convergence A convergent boundary where an oceanic tectonic plate collides with and subducts underneath a continental tectonic plate. The volcanoes of the Andes Mountains result from the Nazca oceanic plate subducting under the continental South American plate. 

One of the most exciting recent developments in Earth Science is the development of quantitative geochemical and thermodynamical proxies for paleoaltimetry. This volume covers state-of-the art applications in this rapidly expanding field. The range of paleoelevation techniques covered here measure different aspects either directly or indirectly of topography. This review illustrates the impact that these new methodologies potentially have on outstanding problems in the field of continental tectonics. 

Miller EL, Cans PB (1989) Cretaceous crustal structure and metamorphism in the hinterland of the Sevier thrust belt, western U.S. Cordillera. Geology 17 59-62 Molnar P (1988) Continental tectonics in the aftermath of plate tectonics. Nature 335 131-137 Molnar P, England P (1990) Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain-ranges and global climate change - chicken or egg. Nature 346 29-34... 

Hill R. I. (1993) Mantle plumes and continental tectonics. Lithos 30, 193-206. 

Stock JM, Cande SC (2002) Tectonic history of Antarctic seafloor in the Australia-New Zealand-South Pacific sector Implications for Antarctic continental tectonics. Roy Soc New Zealand BuU 35 351-259... 

Lavin, M. et al.. Metacommunity processes rather than continental tectonic history better explain geographically structured phylogenies in legumes, Phil Trans. R. Soc., Land. B., 359, 150, 2004. 

This chapter examines climatic and tectonic controls on erosion in the tropics and the implications of these observations regarding the composition of erosion products in general. The role of glaciations in continental denudation will then be examined and contrasted with tropical conditions. Finally, we will briefly examine human effects. 

Sloss, L. L. and Speed, R. C. (1974). Relationships of cratonic and continental-margin tectonic episodes. In "Tectonics and Sedimentation" (W. R. Dickenson, ed.), pp. 98-119. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Tulsa, Oklahoma, SEPM Special Publication 22. 

Tectonic setting Back-arc rift or continental rift Sediment-barren midoceanic Sediment-covered... 

Shinozuka et al. (1999) analyzed the host volcanic and intrusive rocks in the Minamidani mine district in the Maizuru tectonic Belt and found that these rocks formed in an island arc back-arc system near Laurasia during late Paleozoic. Probably the Yanahara deposits, one of the representative Hitachi subtype deposits, were formed in an island arc back-arc system as same as the Minamidani. Sato and Kase (1996) thought that the Hitachi-subtype deposits formed in back-arc rift or continental rift (Table 2.21). 

Modern geochemical studies use data for a much larger suite of elements, determined at much lower concentrations, to model the tectonic movements of continental plates, and to understand the sources of magma generated in that process (e.g. Lightfoot 1993 Sutcliffe 1993). The key elemental suites include the incompatible ... 

Convergent margins are generally considered to be the principle present-day tectonic setting where new continental crust is formed (-1.1 kmVyr, Reymer and Schubert 1984). As illustrated on Figure 23, this new crustal material is characterized by Th/U ratios that are even lower than the Th/U ratio of the MORB mantle (2.6, Sun and McDonough 1989) yet the Th/U ratio of the bulk continental crust (3.9, Rudnick and Fountain 1995) is close to the Th/U ratio of the bulk silicate earth (see Bourdon and Sims 2003). There are several possible explanations for this paradox. Firstly, it is possible that the processes that formed the continental crust in the past were different to those in operation today. Since... 

Reymer A, Schubert G (1984) Phanerozoic addition rates to the continental cmst and crastal growth. Tectonics 3 63-77... 

The early Earth was probably much more geothermaUy active than the Earth is today. [122] The continents of early Earth were most likely small with vertical profiles at, or near, sea-level. [125,181] Subaerial (in addition to submarine) tectonic rift zones and hydrothermal vent fields were probably ubiquitous and vigorous. [182] Extensive continental hydrothermal zones enriched in reducing inorganic and organic vent products and subject to wet/dry cycles were probably common. The low-profile shield continents of the early Earth must have been extensively surfaced with basalt and rhyolite, [183] some of which could have been porphyritic. 

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