Laurentia: Turning Points in the Evolution of a Continent

xvi, 804 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 28 cm. Summary:"The North American continent has a rich record of the tectonic environments and processes that occur throughout much of Earth history. This Memoir focuses on 7 "turning points" that had specific and lasting impacts on Laurentian evolution : (1) The Neoarchean, characterized by cratonization ; (2) the Paleoproterozoic and the initial assembly of Laurentia ; (3) the Mesoproterozoic southern margin of Laurentia ; (4) the Midcontinent rift and the Grenville orogeny ; (5) the Neoproterozoic breakup of Rodinia ; (6) the mid-Paleozoic phases of the Appalachian-Caledonian orogen ; and (7) the Jurassic-Paleogene assembly of the North American Cordillera. The chapters in this Memoir provide syntheses of current understanding of the geologic evolution of Laurentia and North America, as well as new hypotheses for testing."-- Provided by publisher. Contents: The tectonic evolution of Laurentia and the North American continent : New datasets, insights, and models / Steven J. Whitmeyer, Dawn A. Kellett, Basil Tikoff, and Michael L. Williams Crustal genesis and evolution of the Archean Wyoming Province : Continental growth through vertical magmatic and horizontal tectonic processes / David W. Mogk, Carol D. Frost, Paul A. Mueller, B. Ronald Frost, and Darrell J. Henry Sedimentary processes, provenance, and tectonic control on fluvial sandstone geochemistry during Superior craton stabilization / Rasmus Haugaard, Shawna White, Taus R.C. Jørgensen, Ben Frieman, Dean Meek, Xiaohui Zhou, Lucie Mathieu, and John Ayer The Neoarchean, a turning point for geodynamic and magmatic processes within the Superior craton? / Lucie Mathieu, David Mole, Zsuzsanna Tóth, Kate Rubingh, Rasmus Haugaard, Shawna White, Chong Ma, Ben Frieman, Robert Lodge, Ross Sherlock, and Bruno Lafrance Paleoproterozoic Earth and the transition toward modern tectonic processes : A synopsis / D. Corrigan and D. Van Rooyen Paleoproterozoic geology of SW Montana : Implications for the paleogeography of the Wyoming craton and for the consolidation of Laurentia / Tekla A. Harms and Julia A. Baldwin Rapid postorogenic cooling of the Paleoproterozoic Cape Smith foreland thrust belt and footwall Archean basement, Trans-Hudson orogen, Canada / D.R. Skipton, M.R. St-Onge, D.A. Kellett, N.L. Joyce, and S. Smith A tectonic context for fluctuations in late Paleoproterozoic oxygen content / C.A. Partin Laurentia in transition during the Mesoproterozoic : Observations and speculation on the ca. 1500-1340 Ma tectonic evolution of the southern Laurentian margin / Christopher G. Daniel, Ruth Aronoff, Aphrodite Indares, and James V. Jones III Circa 1.50-1.45 Ga metasedimentary rocks in southwestern Laurentia provide distinctive records of Mesoproterozoic regional orogenesis and craton interactions / James V. Jones III and Christopher G. Daniel Petrologic constraints on the origin of Proterozoic ferroan granites of the Laurentian margin / Carol D. Frost and B. Ronald Frost Linking the Pinware, Baraboo, and Picuris orogens : Recognition of a trans-Laurentian ca. 1520-1340 Ma orogenic belt / Christopher G. Daniel, Aphrodite Indares, L. Gordon Medaris Jr., Ruth Aronoff, David Malone, and Joshua Schwartz Late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic deposition of quartz arenites across southern Laurentia / L. Gordon Medaris Jr., Christopher G. Daniel, Michael F. Doe, James V. Jones III, and Joshua J. Schwartz Geoelectric constraints on the Precambrian assembly and architecture of southern Laurentia / Benjamin S. Murphy, Paul A. Bedrosian, and Anna Kelbert The late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic Grenvillian orogeny and the assembly of Rodinia : Turning point in the tectonic evolution of Laurentia / Nicholas L. Swanson-Hysell, Toby Rivers, and Suzan van der Lee Potential terrane relationships between Laurentia and Amazonia during the Grenville orogenic cycle : A synthesis of the U-Pb zircon and Pb isotope recor.…