Terrane Accretion and Orogenic Belts

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geodynamics Series.

The unifying theme of this collection of papers is the realisation that, in the analysis of erogenic belts, the present spatial juxtaposition of elements does not necessarily reflect their relative position throughout the history of the belt. Orogenic belts are assemblages of tectonostratigraphic terranes. The constituent rocks of individual terranes are clearly linked, but separated from those of adjacent terranes by dislocations, mainly faults, across which original continuity cannot be established. Thus many papers in this volume deal with the recognition of terranes, the nature of terrane boundaries, and the relationship of deformation and metamorphism to the amalgamation of terranes and their docking at cratonic margins. Movements on a scale of thousands of kilometres are involved across some terrane boundaries but these are only presently demonstrable in some orogens from detailed paleomagnetic and biogeographic studies, subjects also addressed in this volume.