"This Memoir focuses on 7 'turning points' that had specific and lasting impacts on Laurentian evolution: The Neoarchean, characterized by cratonization; the Paleoproterozoic and the initial assembly of Laurentia; the Mesoproterozoic southern margin of Laurentia; the Midcontinent rift and the Grenville orogeny; (5) the Neoproterozoic breakup of Rodinia; the mid-Paleozoic phases of the Appalachian-Caledonian orogen; and the Jurassic-Paleogene assembly of the North American Cordillerar"--