Deschutes Public Library

Ancient landscapes of western North America, a geologic history with paleogeographic maps, Ronald C. Blakey, Wayne D. Ranney

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-221) and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Ancient landscapes of western North America

bibliography

985079201

Ronald C. Blakey, Wayne D. Ranney

a geologic history with paleogeographic maps

Allow yourself to be taken back into deep geologic time when strange creatures roamed the Earth and Western North America looked completely unlike the modern landscape. Volcanic islands stretched from Mexico to Alaska, most of the Pacific Rim didn't exist yet, at least not as widespread dry land; terranes drifted from across the Pacific to dock on Western America's shores creating mountains and more volcanic activity. Landscapes were transposed north or south by thousands of kilometers along huge fault systems. Follow these events through paleogeographic maps that look like satellite views of ancient Earth. Accompanying text takes the reader into the science behind these maps and the geologic history that they portray. The maps and text unfold the complex geologic history of the region as never seen before

Principles -- The Cordillera's foundations : Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic periods, circa 1800-1000 Ma -- The Cordillera's long-lived passive margin : Neoproterozoic to middle Devonian periods, circa 1000 Ma-400 Ma -- The Antler Orogeny and the first suspect terrane : middle Devonian to late Pennsylvanian, circa 400-300 Ma -- The amalgamation of Pangaea and the Sonoma Orogeny : early Permian to early Triassic, circa 300-240 Ma -- The arrival of Wrangellia and the Nevadan Orogeny : late Triassic to late Jurassic, circa 240-145 Ma -- The continental arc, Sevier Orogeny, Western Interior Seaway and flat-slab subduction : Cretaceous period, circa 145-65 Ma -- Flat-slab subduction, the Laramide Orogeny, uplift of the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains : Paleocene and Eocene, circa 65-35 Ma -- Changing tectonics, cooling climates and the dawn of crustal extension : late Eocene to early Miocene (ca. 35-20 Ma) -- The end of Cordilleran subduction and the formation of the Basin and Range : early and middle Miocene, circa 20-10 Ma -- Interior basins, drainage integration and deep incision : late Miocene to Pliocene, circa 10-2.6 Ma -- The North American Cordillera today : Pleistocene, Holocene and the Anthropocene, circa 2.6 Ma to present