Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Geology Don't get GSW? Talk to your librarian.
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Geology; July 2009; v. 37; no. 7; p. 595-598; DOI: 10.1130/G25725A.1
© 2009 Geological Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Murphy, J. B.
Right arrow Articles by Keppie, J. D.
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Supercontinent reconstruction from recognition of leading continental edges

J. Brendan Murphy1, R. Damian Nance2, Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso3 and J. Duncan Keppie4

1 Department of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia B2G 2W5, Canada
2 Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA
3 Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Salamanca, 33708 Salamanca, Spain
4 Departamento de Geología Regional, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, 04510 México, D.F., México

Repeated amalgamation and subsequent breakup of continental lithosphere have profoundly affected Earth's evolution since the Archean. Following breakup, distinctive rift and passive margin sequences along the trailing edges of dispersing continents have been used to idey such margins in the geologic past. Using western North America as an analogue, we show that the leading edges of dispersing continents have isotopic characteristics that can likewise be used to idey these margins. For example, the Sm-Nd isotopic signatures of Late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic igneous rocks along the northern margin of Gondwana indicate derivation from 0.7 to 1.1 Ga old mantle lithosphere. This lithosphere originated in the Mirovoi Ocean surrounding Rodinia. It subsequently accreted to northern Gondwana in response to Rodinia breakup, and provided a source for subsequent magmatism. Accretion and subsequent recycling of oceanic mantle lithosphere should be common along the leading edges of dispersing continents following supercontinent breakup, providing an additional aid in paleocontinental reconstructions.






JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Geological Society of America