Continents and Supercontinents

Continents and Supercontinents
Author: John J. W. Rogers
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2004-09-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0195165896

Surveys the origin of continents, and the accretion and breakup of supercontinents through earth history. This book also shows how these processes affected the composition of seawater, climate, and the evolution of life.

Supercontinent

Supercontinent
Author: Ted Nield
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2007
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9780674026599

Explores the Supercontinent Cycle from the earliest recorded time to the geological discoveries of today including the drifting of the continents and the evolution of dinosaurs.

Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of Earth

Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of Earth
Author: Lauri J. J Pesonen
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 664
Release: 2021-10-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128185341

Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of Earth offers a systematic examination of Precambrian cratons and supercontinents. Through detailed maps of drift histories and paleogeography of each continent, this book examines topics related to Earth's tectonic evolution prior to Pangea, including plate kinematics, orogenic development, and paleoenvironments. Additionally, this book discusses the methodologies used, principally paleomagnetism and tectonostratigraphy, and addresses geophysical topics of mantle dynamics and geodynamo evolution over billions of years. Structured clearly with consistent coverage for Precambrian cratons, this book combines state-of-the-art paleomagnetic and geochronologic data to reconstruct the paleogeography of the Earth in the context of major climatic events such as global glaciations. It is an ideal, up-to-date reference for geoscientists and geographers looking for answers to questions surrounding the tectonic evolution of Earth. - Provides robust paleogeographies of Precambrian cratons based on high-quality paleomagnetic and geochronologic data and critically tested by global geological datasets - Includes links to updated databases for the Precambrian such as PALEOMAGIA and the Global Paleomagnetic Database (GPMDB) - Presents full-color maps of the drift histories of each continent as well as their paleogeographies - Discusses key questions regarding continental drift, the supercontinent cycle, and the geomagnetic dipole hypothesis and analyzes palaeography in the context of Earth's holistic evolution

Continents and Supercontinents

Continents and Supercontinents
Author: John J. W. Rogers
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2004-09-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0195347331

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.

The Origin of Continents and Oceans

The Origin of Continents and Oceans
Author: Alfred Wegener
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2012-07-25
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0486143899

A source of profound influence and controversy, this landmark 1915 work explains various phenomena of historical geology, geomorphy, paleontology, paleoclimatology, and similar areas in terms of continental drift. 64 illustrations. 1966 edition.

Earth as an Evolving Planetary System

Earth as an Evolving Planetary System
Author: Kent C. Condie
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 593
Release: 2011-08-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0123852285

Earth as an Evolving Planetary System, Second Edition, explores key topics and questions relating to the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle over the last four billion years. This updated edition features exciting new information on Earth and planetary evolution and examines how all subsystems in our planet—crust, mantle, core, atmosphere, oceans and life—have worked together and changed over time. It synthesizes data from the fields of oceanography, geophysics, planetology, and geochemistry to address Earth's evolution. This volume consists of 10 chapters, including two new ones that deal with the Supercontinent Cycle and on Great Events in Earth history. There are also new and updated sections on Earth's thermal history, planetary volcanism, planetary crusts, the onset of plate tectonics, changing composition of the oceans and atmosphere, and paleoclimatic regimes. In addition, the book now includes new tomographic data tracking plume tails into the deep mantle. This book is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, with a basic knowledge of geology, biology, chemistry, and physics. It also may serve as a reference tool for structural geologists and professionals in related disciplines who want to look at the Earth in a broader perspective. - Kent Condie's corresponding interactive CD, Plate Tectonics and How the Earth Works, can be purchased from Tasa Graphic Arts here: http://www.tasagraphicarts.com/progptearth.html - Two new chapters on the Supercontinent Cycle and on Great Events in Earth history - New and updated sections on Earth's thermal history, planetary volcanism, planetary crusts, the onset of plate tectonics, changing composition of the oceans and atmosphere, and paleoclimatic regimes - Also new in this Second Edition: the lower mantle and the role of the post-perovskite transition, the role of water in the mantle, new tomographic data tracking plume tails into the deep mantle, Euxinia in Proterozoic oceans, The Hadean, A crustal age gap at 2.4-2.2 Ga, and continental growth

Earth History and Palaeogeography

Earth History and Palaeogeography
Author: Trond H. Torsvik
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2017
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1107105323

This book provides a complete Phanerozoic story of palaeogeography, using new and detailed full-colour maps, to link surface and deep-Earth processes.

Geodynamics of the Indian Plate

Geodynamics of the Indian Plate
Author: Neal Gupta
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 574
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030159892

This book provides insights on new geological, tectonic, and climatic developments in India through a time progression from the Archean to the Anthropocene that are captured via authoritative entries from experts in earth sciences. This volume aims to bring graduate students and researchers up to date on the geodynamic evolution of the Indian Plate; concepts that have so far resulted in a rather uneven treatment of the subject at different institutions. The book is divided into 4 sections and includes perspectives such as the formation and evolution of the Indian crust in comparison to its neighbors such as Antarctica, Africa and Australia; the evolution of Precambrian cratons and sedimentary basins of India; and a summary account of early life reported in the Indian stratigraphic record. Readers will also discover the key recent research into the neotectonics, tectonic geomorphology, and paleoseismology of the Himalayan Front. Researchers and students in geology, earth sciences, sedimentology, paleobiology and geography will find this book appealing.

The Emergence of Animals

The Emergence of Animals
Author: Mark A. McMenamin
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 246
Release: 1990
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780231066471

The authors explore the late Precambrian and earliest Cambrian fossil record to explain the Cambrian phenomenon and discuss the possibility of a major turnover in marine ecology at the beginning of the Cambrian period or whether a new, improved type of animal appeared at this time. They support their often controversial conclusions with photos and illustrations of fossils, some never before published.

Antarctica and Supercontinent Evolution

Antarctica and Supercontinent Evolution
Author: S.L. Harley
Publisher: Geological Society of London
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2014-01-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1862393672

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.