Geology of North America: Difference between revisions
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===Appalachian Mountains=== |
===Appalachian Mountains=== |
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The fold and thrust belt of the Appalachian is continuously exposed for {{convert|2000|km|mi}} from Pennsylvanian to Alabama. It then extends under the coastal plain, but it is sometimes present at the surface in areas like the [[Ouachita Mountains]] and the [[Marathon Mountains]].<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.earthds.info/pdfs/EDS_23.PDF|accessdate = 1 Mar 2013}}</ref> |
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===Piedmont=== |
===Piedmont=== |
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Revision as of 19:33, 5 March 2013
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The Geology of North America is a subject of regional geology and covers North America, the third-largest continent in the world. Geologic units and processes are investigated on a large scale to reach a synthesized picture of the whole continent.
North American Craton
Canadian Shield
Stable Platform
Grenville Orogen
The Grenville Orogen is an extensive province surrounding the North American Craton on the East and South.[1]
Appalachian Mountains
The fold and thrust belt of the Appalachian is continuously exposed for 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) from Pennsylvanian to Alabama. It then extends under the coastal plain, but it is sometimes present at the surface in areas like the Ouachita Mountains and the Marathon Mountains.[2]
Piedmont
Passive Margin
The passive margin of the Gulf of Mexico is a series of sediments deposits from upland areas surrounding the margin. The environment of deposition for these sediments has changed, varying spatially and temporally. When the ocean level was high shallow marine deposits occurred; when they were low fluvial and deltaic deposits form the majority of mass.[3] From the Triassic until the early Jurassic, faulting localized as extension faulting and wrench faulting. As the basement subsided, sediment accumulated, during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, forming the modern wedge, containing salt basins.[4]
The eastern Mexican Margin is made up of a series of basins. These basins are mostly igneous or metamorphic rocks covered by sediments,[5] except in the Burgos Basin, where Cenozoic Volcanism has occurred.[6] Much of the sediment is from erosion of the thrust belts west of the margin.[7]
Geologically speaking the Yucatán Peninsula is a Cretaceous to Oligocene carbonate platform. Uplift started in the Oligocene and lasted till the Pleistocene. Today the platform is exposed and under the influence of karstification.[8]
American Cordillera
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains were formed by a series of events, the last of which is the Laramide Orogeny.[9]
The Colorado Plateau is a stable region dating back at least 600 million years. Since then, it has been a site of deposition, for sediment that has eroded off surrounding orogens.[10]
Intermontane Province
Between the Rocky Mountains and the coast ranges is an area dominated by extensional forces.
Coast
On the West coast of North America, the coast ranges and the coastal plain form the margin.
Southern Cordillera
The Sierra madre mountain ranges are separated by the Mexican plateau, and transected by the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The Southern extent of the American Cordillera makes up Western Mexico, excluding Baja California, and northern Central America.[11] This includes the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sierra Madre del Sur, and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.
The Cordillera ends in the south in a belt of miogeosynclines, including the Sierra Madre Oriental fold and thrust belt, the Mesa Central, and parts of the Sierra Madre del Sur. This belt also extends into Central America.[11]
References
- ^ "The Grenville".
- ^ http://www.earthds.info/pdfs/EDS_23.PDF. Retrieved 1 Mar 2013.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Grubb, Hayes; Carillo, J. Joel. (1988). "Chapter 26: Region 23, Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain". In Back, William; Rosenshein, Joseph; Seaber, Paul (eds.). The Geology of North America. The Geological Society of America. pp. 219–228. Retrieved 28 Feb 2013.
- ^ Mancini, Ernest; Obid, Jamal; Badali, Marcello; Liu, Kaiyu; Parcell, William (December 2008). "Sequence-stratigraphic analysis of Jurassic and Cretaceous strata and petroleum exploration in the central and eastern Gulf coastal plain, United States". AAPG Bulletin. 92 (12): 1655–1686. Retrieved 28 Feb 2013.
- ^ Humapa. 2012.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|access date=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Cruz, Guillermo (1993). Geological evolution of the Burgos Basin, northeastern Mexico (Thesis).
- ^ Cuervo, Arturo; Valdivieso, Victor; Caraveo, Carlos; Rivera, Sergio; Espinoza, Miguel; Cuevas, Marie; Ghosh, Santosh; Kroener, Robert; Marrullier, Carl (Oct 2002). "Geology and Exploration Potential of the Veracruz Basin". Houston Geological Society Bulletin (2): 15, 17.
{{cite journal}}:|first=missing|last=(help); Unknown parameter|Last=ignored (|last=suggested) (help) - ^ "A Condensed Geological Chronicle of the Yucatan Platform". Retrieved 17 January 2013.
- ^ English, Joseph; Johnston, Stephen; Wang, Kelin. "Thermal modelling of the Laramide orogeny" (PDF).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Foos, Annabelle. "Geology of the Colorado Plateau" (PDF). Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ^ a b King, Philip (1969). The Tectonics of North America. p. 48.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help)