Antarctica and Supercontinent Evolution

Antarctica and Supercontinent Evolution PDF Author: S.L. Harley
Publisher: Geological Society of London
ISBN: 1862393672
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Antarctica preserves a rock record that spans three and a half billion years of history and has a remarkable story to tell about the evolution of our Earth, from the hottest crustal rocks yet found in an orogenic system, to the assembly and breakup of Gondwana in the Phanerozoic. This volume highlights our improved understanding of the tectonic events that have shaped Antarctica and how these potentially relate to supercontinent assembly and fragmentation. The internal constitution of the East Antarctic Shield is assessed using information available from the basement geology and from detritus preserved as Mesozoic sediments in the Trans Antarctic Mountains. Accretionary orogenesis along the proto-Pacific margin of Antarctica is examined and the volumes of intracrustal melting compared with juvenile magma additions in these complex orogenic systems assessed. This special volume demonstrates the diversity of approaches required to elucidate and understand crustal evolution and evaluate the supercontinent concept.

Crustal Evolution of India and Antarctica

Crustal Evolution of India and Antarctica PDF Author: N.C. Pant
Publisher: Geological Society of London
ISBN: 1786203197
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
The Proterozoic aeon involved at least three major continental readjustments. India and Antarctica appear in most models of supercontinent reconstructions, but their relative position has been the subject of debate. High-resolution petrological and geochronological data, especially from the Proterozoic mobile belts, provide the principal means of resolving this issue. The ice-covered nature of Antarctica allows only limited access to the rocks, and then only in coastal tracts, so detailed studies in more accessible Proterozoic terrains in India assume added significance. This volume, a follow-up to the XII International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Science, Goa (a SCAR symposium), provides new data from selected locations in east Antarctica (Enderby Land and Dronning Maud Land) and from India, including the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt (EGMB), Chota Nagpur Gneissic Complex, the Khasi Hills and the Aravalli–Delhi Mobile Belt. The presented geochronological data, constrained by petrological studies, are expected to provide new insights, especially into the EGMB–east Antarctica connection and the rate of continental readjustments in the post-Rodinia break-up.

Continents and Supercontinents

Continents and Supercontinents PDF Author: John J. W. Rogers
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780195347333
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
To this day, there is a great amount of controversy about where, when and how the so-called supercontinents--Pangea, Godwana, Rodinia, and Columbia--were made and broken. Continents and Supercontinents frames that controversy by giving all the necessary background on how continental crust is formed, modified, and destroyed, and what forces move plates. It also discusses how these processes affect the composition of seawater, climate, and the evolution of life. Rogers and Santosh begin with a survey of plate tectonics, and go on to describe the composition, production, and destruction of continental and oceanic crust, and show that cratons or assemblies of cratons became the first true continents, approximately one billion years after the earliest continental crust evolved. The middle part of the book concentrates on supercontinents, beginning with a discussion of types of orogenic belts, distinguishing those that formed by closure of an ocean basin within the belt and those that formed by intracontinental deformation caused by stresses generated elsewhere. This information permits discrimination between models of supercontinent formation by accretion of numerous small terranes and by reorganization of large old continental blocks. This background leads to a description of the assembly and fragmentation of supercontinents throughout earth history. The record is most difficult to interpret for the oldest supercontinent, Columbia, and also controversial for Rodinia, the next youngest supercontinent. The configurations and pattern of breakup of Gondwana and Pangea are well known, but some aspects of their assembly are unclear. The book also briefly describes the histories of continents after the breakup of Pangea, and discusses how changes in the composition of seawater, climate, and life may have been affected by the sizes and locations of continents and supercontinents.

Antarctic Climate Evolution

Antarctic Climate Evolution PDF Author: Fabio Florindo
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 9780080931616
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 606

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Book Description
Antarctic Climate Evolution is the first book dedicated to furthering knowledge on the evolution of the world’s largest ice sheet over its ~34 million year history. This volume provides the latest information on subjects ranging from terrestrial and marine geology to sedimentology and glacier geophysics. An overview of Antarctic climate change, analyzing historical, present-day and future developments Contributions from leading experts and scholars from around the world Informs and updates climate change scientists and experts in related areas of study

Antarctic Climate Evolution

Antarctic Climate Evolution PDF Author: Fabio Florindo
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0128191104
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 806

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Book Description
Antarctic Climate Evolution, Second Edition, enhances our understanding of the history of the world’s largest ice sheet, and how it responded to and influenced climate change during the Cenozoic. It includes terrestrial and marine geology, sedimentology, glacier geophysics and ship-borne geophysics, coupled with results from numerical ice sheet and climate modeling. The book’s content largely mirrors the structure of the Past Antarctic Ice Sheets (PAIS) program (www.scar.org/science/pais), formed to investigate past changes in Antarctica by supporting multidisciplinary global research. This new edition reflects recent advances and is updated with several new chapters, including those covering marine and terrestrial life changes, ice shelves, advances in numerical modeling, and increasing coverage of rates of change. The approach of the PAIS program has led to substantial improvement in our knowledge base of past Antarctic change and our understanding of the factors that have guided its evolution. Offers an overview of Antarctic climate change, analyzing historical, present-day and future developments Provides the latest information on subjects ranging from terrestrial and marine geology to sedimentology and glacier geophysics in the context of Antarctic evolution Fully updated to include expanded coverage of rates of change, advances in numerical modeling, marine and terrestrial life changes, ice shelves, and more

Proterozoic East Gondwana

Proterozoic East Gondwana PDF Author: Masaru Yoshida
Publisher: Geological Society of London
ISBN: 9781862391253
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
This volume focuses on Late Mesoproterozoic to early Cambrian events related to Gondwana assembly and break up. The nineteen papers provide a comprehensive review including advanced knowledge and new data from all critical areas of East Gondwana. The recent knowledge of the evolution of East Gondwana, which was regarded as an integral part of the Mesoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia, is the major theme of the volume, which is reinforced by highlighting this radical and new understanding of the evolution of this region.

Geodynamic Evolution of East Antarctica

Geodynamic Evolution of East Antarctica PDF Author: M. Satish-Kumar
Publisher: Geological Society of London
ISBN: 9781862392687
Category : Continental drift
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
Geological correlations of East Antarctica with adjoining continents have been puzzling geologists ever since the concept of a Gondwana supercontinent surfaced. Despite the paucity of outcrops because of ice cover, difficulty of access and extreme weather, the past 50 years of Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions (JARE) has successfully revealed vital elements of the geology of East Antarctica. This volume presents reviews and new research from localities across East Antarctica, especially from Dronning Maud Land to Enderby Land, where the geological record preserves a history that spans the Archaean and Proterozoic. The reviews include extensive bibliographies of results obtained by geologists who participated in the JARE. Comprehensive geological, petrological and geochemical studies, form a platform for future research on the formation and dispersion of Rodinia in the Mesoproterozoic and subsequent assembly of Gondwana in the Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic.

Geological Evolution of Antarctica

Geological Evolution of Antarctica PDF Author: Michael Robert Alexander Thomson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521372664
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 742

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Book Description
Surveys the tectonic evolution of the Antarctic crust and the palaeoenvironmental evolution of Antarctica since the Late Mesozoic.

Earth's Oldest Rocks

Earth's Oldest Rocks PDF Author: Martin J. Van Kranendonk
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0444639020
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1112

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Book Description
Earth’s Oldest Rocks, Second Edition, is the only single reference source for geological research of early Earth. This new edition is an up-to-date collection of scientific articles on all aspects of the early history of the Earth, from planetary accretion at 4.567 billion years ago (Ga), to the onset of modern-style plate tectonics at 3.2 Ga. Since the first edition was published, significant new advances have been made in our understanding of events and processes on early Earth that correspond with new advances in technology. The book includes contributions from over 100 authors, all of whom are experts in their respective fields. The research in this reference concentrates on what is directly gleaned from the existing rock record to understand how our planet formed and evolved during the planetary accretion phase, formation of the first crust, the changing dynamics of the mantle and style of tectonics, life’s foothold and early development, and mineral deposits. It is an ideal resource for academics, students and the general public alike. Advances in early Earth research since 2007 based primarily on evidence gleaned directly from the rock record More than 50% of the chapters in this edition are new and the rest of the chapters are revised from the first edition, with more than 700 pages of new material Comprehensive reviews of areas of ancient lithosphere from all over the world, and of crust-forming processes New chapters on early solar system materials, composition of the ancient atmosphere-hydrosphere, and overviews of the oldest evidence of life on Earth, and modeling of early Earth tectonics

Origin and Evolution of Continents

Origin and Evolution of Continents PDF Author: Yoichi Motoyoshi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Continental drift
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description