Book review: Precambrian Crustal Evolution in the North Atlantic Region edited by T. S. Brewer, Geological Society of London Special Publication No. 112, 1996. ISBN 1-897799-62-4. Price: £69.00 (hardback). Palaeomagnetism and Tectonics of the Mediterranean Region edited by A. Morris and D. H. Tarling, Geological Society of London Special Publication No. 105, 1996. Price: £66.00 (hardback). ISBN 1-897799-55-1. Fluid Flow and Transport in Rocks: Mechanisms and Effects edited by B. Jamtveit and B. W. D. Yardley, Chapman and Hall, London, 1997. Price: £79.00 (hardback). ISBN 0-412-734-605. Structural Geology of Rocks and Regions (second edition) by G. H. Davis and S. J. Reynolds, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1996. Price: £24.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-471-52621-5.
✍ Scribed by J. Wheeler
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 73 KB
- Volume
- 33
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0072-1050
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This book contains 20 papers addressing the Precambrian (in most instances, the Proterozoic) evolution of North America, Greenland, Scandinavia and Britain. It marks the inaugural meeting of IGCP Project 371 which aims to clarify the Precambrian structures and their correlation in this large region spanning the North Atlantic. Several papers here present syntheses of crustal evolution, but it is clear that there will be much room for ideas to evolve as the project unfolds. The emphasis of several contributions is on synthesis of ®eld-based geometrical and structural data with metamorphic and existing geochronological data within various orogens. New geochronological studies are also represented, with some geochemical, palaeomagnetic and provenance work. The ®rst paper summarizes the contribution of deep seismic re¯ection investigation to our understanding of Proterozoic orogens. There is a strong bias towards orogenic evolution in this book Ð postorogenic sedimentation, basin formation and magmatism are barely addressed, though these phenomena certainly form part of the region's history. The majority of papers address either the Baltic Shield or the Precambrian of Labrador Ð the north and east of the latter region contains a particularly complex network of Proterozoic orogens which are evidently a focus of current interest.
One overall impression this book leaves me with is that now, in the late 1990s, it seems accepted that the plate tectonic paradigm can be applied throughout the Proterozoic in much the same way as it would be used to understand Phanerozoic mountain belts. Calc-alkaline volcanics relate to subduction, ma®c sequences may be parts of oceanic plates or back-arc basins and mark suture zones, doubly vergent orogens must link at depth to singly vergent subduction. I have no problem with this approach, other than that it may eclipse our appreciation of any secular changes in the way plate tectonics has functioned through the Precambrian. Discuss!