Role of transform continental margins in major crustal growth episodes

Mantle plumes are often invoked as the ultimate cause of major episodes of continent generation. In this paper we explore the potential of normal plate-tectonic processes to generate intense crustal growth. The central problem is localization of rapid crustal growth into small regions. This can be a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2002-01, Vol.30 (1), p.39-42
Main Authors: Patchett, P. Jonathan, Chase, Clement G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Arabian Peninsula
Arabian Shield
Arctic region
Asia
Canada
Canadian Cordillera
continental crust
continental drift
continental margin
crust
Europe
faults
Fennoscandian Shield
Geological time
Geology
Geophysics
Greenland
Laurentia
modern analogs
North America
North American Cordillera
Nubian Shield
orogenic belts
plate convergence
Plate tectonics
solid Earth (tectonophysics)
strike-slip faults
subduction
subduction zones
tectonics
terranes
transform faults
Western Canada
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Summary:Mantle plumes are often invoked as the ultimate cause of major episodes of continent generation. In this paper we explore the potential of normal plate-tectonic processes to generate intense crustal growth. The central problem is localization of rapid crustal growth into small regions. This can be achieved by transport of terranes parallel to the continental edge in orogenic zones, which we deduce from an analysis of the proportion of present-day continental margins that are dominated by strike-slip motion, together with the proportion of subduction zones showing obliquity >30°. There is a 16% probability of margin-parallel terrane transport on a scale >400 km, and a few margins show transport on a scale >1000 km. The results suggest that concentration of juvenile arc materials into restricted locations can explain both the apparent episodicity and rapid genesis of Precambrian juvenile provinces.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0039:ROTCMI>2.0.CO;2