1980/01/01 by Peter J. Coney · 492 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Geological and Tectonic Studies in Latin America #Terrane #Geology #Metamorphic rock #Orogeny #Metamorphic core complex #Paleontology #Structural basin #Geochemistry #Seismology #Tectonics
paper · doi:10.1130/mem153-p7
published in Memoir - Geological Society of America, 7-31 (Geological Society of America)
openalex publication_date 1980/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
More than 25 distinctive, isolated metamorphic terranes extend in a narrow, sinuous belt from southern Canada into northwestern Mexico along the axis of the North American Cordillera. Appreciation of these terranes has evolved slowly, and more than half of them have been recognized only since 1970. Growing evidence shows that these metamorphic terranes and related features evolved in part during early to middle Tertiary time (55 to 15 m.y. B.P.), that is, after the Laramide orogeny but before basin-range faulting. These terranes have been termed "metamorphic core complexes."