Paleozoic Laurentia-Gondwana interaction and the origin of the Appalachian-Andean mountain system

Laurentia, the rift-bounded Precambrian nucleus of North America, may have broken out from a Neoproterozoic supercontinent between East and West Gondwana. Several lines of evidence suggest that the Appalachian margin of Laurentia subsequently collided with the proto-Andean margin of the amalgamated...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Dalziel, Ian W. D., Dalla Salda, Luis Hugo, Gahagan, Lisa M.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:1994
País:Argentina
Institución:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Repositorio:SEDICI (UNLP)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/123067
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/123067
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Geología
Geology
Paleozoic
Craton
Paleontology
Precambrian
Paleomagnetism
Unconformity
Laurentia
Supercontinent
Gondwana
Descripción
Sumario:Laurentia, the rift-bounded Precambrian nucleus of North America, may have broken out from a Neoproterozoic supercontinent between East and West Gondwana. Several lines of evidence suggest that the Appalachian margin of Laurentia subsequently collided with the proto-Andean margin of the amalgamated Gondwana supercontinent in different relative positions during early and mid-Paleozoic time, in route to final docking against northwest Africa to complete the assembly of Pangea. Hence the Appalachian and Andean orogens may have originated as a single mountain system. The overall hypothesis retains the same paleomagnetic and paleobiogeographic controls as previous global reconstructions for the Paleozoic Era. Laurentia-Gondwana collisions may help to explain contemporaneous unconformities in the Paleozoic sedimentary cover of the Laurentian, Gondwanan, and Baltic cratons.