Boulder, Colo., USA - Fast-paced and complex extensional and contractional deformation, between 170 and 148 million years ago, along the margin of Laurasia coincides with ocean-floor formation within basins. These include as the central Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Valley of California, the Mediterranean Sea, and the southern Caspian Sea.
Along the western margin of North America, numerous basins, formed in the Middle Jurassic and continued throughout the Late Jurassic, are contemporaneous and co-genetic with igneous activity. They are also kinematically compatible with sinistral strike-slip fault movement, suggesting a transtensional origin.
Other comparable basins are postulated to have developed in Russia, Mongolia, China, and Iran. Domains of contractional deformation, attributed to transpression, such as the Blue Mountains (Oregon, USA), the Chersky collision belt (Siberia, Russia), and the early Yinshan fold-thrust belt (northern China), interrupt the belt of Late Jurassic basins. The tectonic evolution that is characterized by linkages among faults and fault-related structures along the margin of the Laurasian plate may be interpreted as recording plate rotation during the breakup of Pangea.
This well-illustrated book includes a map and DVD. The volume editors are Thomas H. Anderson of the University of Pittsburgh, Alexei N. Didenko of the Russian Academy of Science, Cari L. Johnson of the University of Utah, Alexander I. Khanchuk of the Far Eastern Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, and James H. MacDonald Jr. of Florida Gulf Coast University.
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Book editors of earth science journals/publications may request a review copy by contacting April Leo, aleo@geosociety.org.
Late Jurassic Margin of Laurasia -- A Record of Faulting Accommodating Plate Rotation edited by Thomas H. Anderson, Alexei N. Didenko, Cari L. Johnson, Alexander I. Khanchuk, and James H. MacDonald Jr. Geological Society of America Special Paper 513 SPE513, 606 p. plus plate and DVD, $120; GSA member price $84 ISBN 978-0-8137-2513-0
View the table of contents: http://rock.geosociety.org/store/TOC/spe513.pdf
Contact:
Kea Giles
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kgiles@geosociety.org