Regional Stratigraphy of North America

An early reviewer of this book stated that he had difficulty assessing its marketability because it "falls between the cracks" of geological literature. We have designed this book to meet a need of modem geology: namely, a single source providing both detailed and synoptic stratigraphy of the various regions of North America, through geological time. Shortly after beginning work on such a book, we realized why it had not yet been written: it required six years of effort, assimilation of an incredible amount of information, and two years' additional work to cut the volume down to publishable size. Further, by the time the final chapter was written, the fIrst few were already out of date. Nevertheless, the book lies in front of you. It is intended to serve several purposes. As a textbook, it will serve the following courses: . Regional stratigraphy . Sedimentary tectonics . Regional tectonics . Advanced historical geology . Survey-level paleontology Obviously, not all portions of the book are relevant to all of the above courses. We assume the reader will retain this book after the particular course is done, and will use it as a reference book. Hopefully, others will obtain the book solely for reference purposes. We believe it will be especially useful for the working geologist or academic geologist seeking generalized and some moderately detailed information about a region or geological time interval which is unfamiliar.

Contenu

1: Introduction.- 2: The Archean.- A. Introduction.- A.1. Distribution of Archean Rocks.- A.1.a. Archean Rocks outside of North America.- A.1.b. Archean Rocks of North America.- A.2. Problems of Archean Geology.- B. Major Archean Lithologies.- B.1. Greenstone Belts.- B.1.a. Shape.- B.1.b. Structure.- B.1.c. Stratigraphy.- B.2. A Digression: Weathering and Sedimentation during the Archean.- B.2.a. Surface Temperature.- B.2.b. Atmospheric Composition.- B.2.c. Weathering Processes.- B.2.d. Sedimentation.- B.3. High-Grade Terranes.- B.3.a. Isua Supracrustals: The Oldest Rocks.- B.3.b. The Amîtsoq and Uivak Gneisses.- B.3.c. Malene and Upernavik Supracrustals.- B.3.d. Younger Quartzofeldspathic Gneisses.- B.3.e. Late Granites.- B.4. Relation of High-Grade Terranes to Greenstone Belts.- C. Hypotheses on Archean Tectonics.- C.1. "Classical" Models: The Downsagging Basin.- C.2. Uniformitarian Models.- C.2.a. Rift-Basin Model.- C.2.b. Marginal-Basin/Magmatic-Arc Model.- C.3. Development of an Actualistic Model.- C.3.a. The Archean Geothermal Gradient.- C.3.b. The Primitive Stage.- C.3.c. The Permobile Stage.- C.3.d. The Archean-Proterozoic Boundary.- 3: The Proterozoic.- A. Introduction.- B. North Atlantic Craton.- B.1. Nagssugtoqidian Mobile Belt.- B.2. Ketilidian Mobile Belt.- B.3. The Gardar Assemblage.- C. Circum-Superior Mobile Belt.- C.1. Southern Province.- C.1.a. Lower Proterozoic Strata of Southern Province.- C.1.b. The Hudsonian (Penokean) Orogeny.- C.1.c. Middle Proterozoic Rocks of Southern Province.- C.1.d. Upper Proterozoic Rocks of Southern Province.- C.2. Churchill Province, I: Circum-Ungava Mobile Belt.- C.2.a. The Labrador Trough.- C.2.b. Cape Smith Fold Belt.- C.2.c. Belcher Fold Belt.- C.3. Churchill Province, II: Western Circum-Superior Belt.- C.3.a. Sutton Inlier.- C.3.b. Fox River Belt.- C.3.c. Thompson Nickel Belt.- C.4. Tectonic Interpretation of the Circum-Superior Belt.- D. Churchill Province, III: Western Churchill.- D.1. Major Fold Belts.- D.1.a. Wollaston Lake Fold Belt.- D.1.b. Foxe and Committee Fold Belts.- D.2. Supracrustals of the Kaminak Craton.- D.3. Thelon, Athabasca, and Borden Basins.- D.3.a. The Thelon Basin.- D.3.b. The Athabasca Basin.- D.3.c. The Borden Basin.- D.4. The Hudsonian Orogeny in Western Churchill Province.- E. Bear Province.- E.1. The Wopmay Orogen.- E.1.a. The Coronation Margin.- E.1.b. Great Bear Magmatic Belt.- E.1.c. Hottah Terrane.- E.1.d. Tectonic Interpretation.- E.2. Athapuscow and Bathurst Aulacogens.- E.3. Middle and Upper Proterozoic Strata of the Amundsen Basin.- F. Grenville Orogen.- F.1. Subdivisions of the Grenville Orogen.- F.1.a. Grenville Tectonic Front.- F.1.b. Grenville Foreland Belt.- F.1.c. Central Gneiss Belt.- F.1.d. Central Metasedimentary Belt.- F.1.e. Central Granulite Belt.- F.1.f. Baie Comeau Segment.- F.1.g. Eastern Grenville Province.- F.1.h. Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York.- F.1.i. Northern Appalachian Orogen.- F.1.j. Central and Southern Appalachians.- F.1.k. Llano Uplift.- F.1.l. Van Horn Mountains.- F.2. Stratigraphy of Grenville Rocks in Canada.- F.2.a. Grenville Supergroup.- F.2.b. Wakeham Bay Group.- F.2.c. Grenville Foreland Belt Strata.- F.3. Tectonics of the Grenville Orogeny.- G. Proterozoic of the United States Craton.- G.1. Penokean Belt of the Northern Great Plains.- G.2. Interior Belt.- G.2.a. Wisconsin.- G.2.b. Southern Margin of the Wyoming Craton.- G.2.c. Central and Southern Interior Belt.- G.3. Southwestern Belt.- G.4. St. François Belt.- H. Early History of the Cordilleran Continental Margin.- H.1. Belt and Purcell Rocks and Their Correlatives.- H.1.a. The Belt and Purcell Supergroups.- H.1.b. Uinta Mountains Group and Big Cottonwood Formation.- H.1.c. Grand Canyon Supergroup.- H.1.d. Crystal Springs and Beck Springs Formations (of Pahrump Group).- H.1.e. Other Belt-Purcell Correlatives.- H.2. Racklan-East Kootenay-Grand Canyon Tectonic Event.- H.3. Windermere Rocks and Their Correlatives.- H.3.a. The Windermere Group.- H.3.b. Windermere Correlatives in Southeastern Idaho and Utah.- H.3.c. Kingston Peak Formation (Upper Pahrump Group).- H.3.d. Rapitan Group.- H.4. Late Precambrian Tectonics and Development of the Cordilleran Margin.- I. Early History of the Appalachian Continental Margin.- I.1. Upper Precambrian Rocks of the Central and Southern Appalachians.- I.1.a. Northern and Central Virginia.- I.1.b. Southwestern Virginia and Northwestern North Carolina.- I.1.c. Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee.- I.2. Upper Precambrian Rocks of the Northern Appalachians.- I.3. Late Precambrian Rifting and Early History of the Appalachian Margin.- J. The Fossil Record of Early Life.- J.1. Introduction.- J.2. Archean Fossils: 3.5-2.5 Byr.- J.3. Fossils of the Early and Middle Proterozoic: 2.5-1.4 Byr.- J.4. The Late Precambrian Fossils: 1.4-0.6 Byr.- 4: The Sauk Sequence: Ediacarian-Lower Ordovician.- A. Conditions at the Beginning of the Phanerozoic.- A.1. Overview.- A.2. Global Paleogeography.- A.3. Paleoclimatology.- B. Epeiric Seas and Cratonic Sequences.- B.1. The Concept of Epeirogeny.- B.1.a. Tectonic Interpretation of Epeirogeny.- B.1.b. Dynamics and Characteristics of Epeiric Seas.- B.2. Cratonic Sequences.- C. A Digression, the Ediacarian: Do You Believe Rocks or Fossils?.- C.1. Nomenclature for Latest Precambrian Time.- C.2. Occurrence and Nature of North American Ediacarian Strata.- C.2.a. Southwestern (Great Basin) Ediacarian Strata.- C.2.b. Northern Rocky Mountain Ediacarian Strata.- C.2.c. Central and Southern Appalachians.- C.2.d. Newfoundland and Other Areas.- C.3. Ediacarian Life and the Significance of Metazoans.- C.3.a. The Metazoan Body Plan.- C.3.b. The Stratigraphic Record of First Metazoans.- C.3.c. The Tommotian Skeletal Fossils.- C.3.d. Ediacarian/Tommotian Paleoecology and Hypotheses for the Advent of Skeletons.- D. Phanerozoic Sauk Sedimentation.- D.1. Overview of Cambrian Sedimentation.- D.2. The Craton during Sauk Deposition.- D.3. Cambrian of the Eastern Margin.- D.3.a. Lower Cambrian (Waucoban) Basal Detrital Sediments and Carbonates.- D.3.b. Middle and Upper Cambrian (Albertan and Croixan) Lithofacies.- D.4. Cambrian of the Western Margin.- D.5. Cambrian of the Craton.- D.6. Peripheral Cambrian Strata.- D.6.a. Eastern Cambrian Strata.- D.6.b. Cambrian of American Arctic Regions.- D.7. Lower Ordovician Sedimentation.- E. Earliest Animals with Skeletons: First Recorded Taxonomic Radiation.- E.1. On the Appearance of Skeletonized Animals in the Lowermost Cambrian.- E.2. Trilob…