In
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
, a terrane (; in full, a
tectonostratigraphic In geology, tectonostratigraphy is stratigraphy that refers either to rock sequences in which large-scale layering is caused by the stacking of thrust sheets, or nappes, in areas of thrust tectonics or to the effects of tectonics on lithostratigraph ...
terrane) is a
crust fragment formed on a
tectonic plate
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large t ...
(or broken off from it) and
accreted or "
sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its own distinctive geologic history, which is different from that of the surrounding areas—hence the term "exotic" terrane. The
suture zone
In structural geology, a suture is a joining together along a major fault zone, of separate terranes, tectonic units that have different plate tectonic, metamorphic and paleogeographic histories. The suture is often represented on the surface by ...
between a terrane and the crust it attaches to is usually identifiable as a
fault. A sedimentary deposit that buries the contact of the terrane with adjacent rock is called an overlap formation. An igneous intrusion that has intruded and obscured the contact of a terrane with adjacent rock is called a
stitching pluton
In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...
.
Older usage of ''terrane'' simply described a series of related rock formations or an area having a preponderance of a particular rock or rock groups.
Overview
A tectonostratigraphic terrane is not necessarily an independent
microplate
A microplate, also known as a microtiter plate (''Microtiter'' is a registered trademark in the United States, therefore it should not be used generically without attribution), microwell plate or multiwell, is a flat plate with multiple "wells" ...
in origin, since it may not contain the full thickness of the
lithosphere
A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of up to thousands of years ...
. It is a piece of
crust which has been transported laterally, usually as part of a larger plate, and is relatively buoyant due to thickness or low density. When the plate of which it was a part
subduct
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
ed under another plate, the terrane failed to subduct, detached from its transporting plate, and accreted onto the overriding plate. Therefore, the terrane transferred from one plate to the other. Typically, accreting terranes are portions of
continental crust
Continental crust is the layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves. This layer is sometimes called '' sial' ...
which have
rifted off another continental mass and been transported surrounded by oceanic crust, or they are old
island arc
Island arcs are long chains of active volcanoes with intense seismic activity found along convergent tectonic plate boundaries. Most island arcs originate on oceanic crust and have resulted from the descent of the lithosphere into the mantle alo ...
s formed at some distant
subduction zone
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, ...
.
A tectonostratigraphic terrane is a fault-bounded package of rocks of at least regional extent characterized by a geologic history which differs from that of neighboring terranes. The basic characteristics of these terranes is that the present spatial relations are not compatible with the inferred geologic histories. Where terranes which lie next to each other possess strata of the same age, it must be demonstrable that the geologic evolutions are different and incompatible, and there must be an absence of intermediate
lithofacies
Lithofacies may refer to:
* A mappable subdivision of a designated stratigraphic unit, distinguished from adjacent subdivisions on the basis of lithology; a facies characterized by particular lithologic features
* The rock record of any particular ...
which could link the strata.
The concept of ''tectonostratigraphic terrane '' developed from studies in the 1970s of the complicated
Pacific Cordillera
The North American Cordillera, sometimes also called the Western Cordillera of North America, the Western Cordillera or the Pacific Cordillera, is the North American portion of the American Cordillera, the mountain chain system (cordillera) al ...
n
orogenic
Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted ...
margin of
North America, a complex and diverse geological potpourri that was difficult to explain until the new science of plate tectonics illuminated the ability of crustal fragments to "drift" thousands of miles from their origin and fetch up, crumpled, against an exotic shore. Such terranes were dubbed "
accreted terranes" by
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, alt ...
s.
When terranes are composed of repeated accretionary events, and hence are composed of subunits with distinct history and structure, they may be called superterranes.
Tectonostratigraphic terranes
Africa
*
Birminian Terrane
*
Kahiltna Terrane
*
Likasi Terrane
Likasi (formerly official names: Jadotville ( French) and Jadotstad (Dutch)) is a city in Haut-Katanga Province, in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Demographics
Likasi has a population of around 635,000 (2015). During the 1990 ...
*
Mozambique Belt
The Mozambique Belt is a band in the earth's crust that extends from East Antarctica through East Africa up to the Arabian-Nubian Shield. It formed as a suture between plates during the Pan-African orogeny, when Gondwana was formed.
The Mozamb ...
Asia
*
Aldan Terrane Aldan may refer to:
;People
*Gille Aldan, the first bishop of Galloway, Scotland
* Andrey Aldan-Semenov (1908–1985), Russian writer
*Duke Aldan, a fictional character in '' Langrisser IV'' video game
;Places
* Aldan, Russia, a town in the Sakha ...
*
Birekte Terrane
The Birekte (russian: Биректе; sah, Билэктэ) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It is a tributary of the Olenyok with a length of . Its drainage basin area is .
The river flows north of the Arctic Circle, across a l ...
*
Bargusin Terrane
*
Daldyn Terrane
*
Magan Terrane
Magan may refer to:
Places
*Magan (civilization), also written Makan or Makkan, an ancient region referred to in Sumerian texts
*Magan, Russia, a rural locality (a ''selo'') in the Sakha Republic, Russia
*Magan Airport, an airport in the Sakha Re ...
*
Markha Terrane Markha may refer to:
* Markha, a former village, incorporated into the city of Yakutsk, Sakha Republic, Russia
* Markha, Olyokminsky District, a village in Olyokminsky District, Sakha Republic, Russia
* Markha (Vilyuy), a ...
*
Midyan Terrane
Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest A ...
*
Shan–Thai Terrane
The Shan–Thai or Sibumasu Terrane is a mass of continental crust extending from Tibet into Southeast Asia sharing a similar geological history. The Shan–Thai Terrane rifted from Australia in the Permian and collided with the Indochina terran ...
*
Tungus Terrane
*
Tynda Terrane
Tynda (russian: Ты́нда) is a town in Amur Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Blagoveshchensk. It is an important railway junction, informally referred to as the capital of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Its population has declined sharply in r ...
*
Uchur Terrane
The Uchur (russian: Учур; sah, Учур, ''Uçur'') is a river in Khabarovsk Krai and Yakutia in Russia, a right tributary of the Aldan (Lena's basin). The length of the river is . The area of its drainage basin is . The Uchur freezes up in N ...
Taiwan
*
Coastal Range Terrane
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...
*
Longitudinal Valley Terrane
Longitudinal is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
* Longitude
** Line of longitude, also called a meridian
* Longitudinal engine, an internal combustion engine in which the crankshaft is oriented along the long axis of the vehicle, ...
*
Eastern Central Range Terrane
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
* Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
* Eastern Air ...
*
Western Central Range Terrane
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
*
Hsuehshan Range Terrane
Xueshan, formerly known as and by other names, is a mountain in the Heping District of Taichung, Taiwan. It is the 2nd-highest mountain in Taiwan and in East Asia, at above sea level. It is located in the Shei-Pa National Park and is visib ...
*
Western Foothills Terrane
Western may refer to:
Places
* Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
* Western, New York, a town in the US
* Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
* Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
* Western world, countries th ...
*
Coastal Plain Terrane
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
Tibet
*
Lhasa Terrane[Aitchison, J. C., Ali, J. R., and Davis, A. M. (2007) "When and where did India and Asia collide?" '']Journal of Geophysical Research
The ''Journal of Geophysical Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It is the flagship journal of the American Geophysical Union. It contains original research on the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the un ...
'', v.112, pp.1–19
*
Qiangtang Terrane[
*]Xigaze Terrane
Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , corresponds to the histori ...
[
*]Bainang Terrane
Bainang County (; ) is a county of Xigazê in the Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of Chi ...
[
*]Zedong Terrane
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ...
[
* Dazhuqu Terrane][
Australasia
*]Brook Street Terrane
A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to:
Computing
*Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C
*Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler
* BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programmi ...
*Buller Terrane Buller is an English surname. It may refer to:
People
* Anthony Buller (1613–1679), English soldier and Member of Parliament
* Sir Anthony Buller (1780–1866), English lawyer and Member of Parliament
* Arthur Henry Reginald Buller (1874–194 ...
[
*]Caples Terrane Caples may refer to:
People
* Garrett Caples (b. 1972), American poet
* Harry Caples (1896 - 1933), Australian representative rugby league footballer
* Yvonne Caples (b. 1972), women's boxing champion
Place name
* Caples, Washington, United States ...
[
*]East Tasmanian Terrane
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
*Glenburgh Terrane
The Gascoyne Complex is a terrane of Proterozoic granite and metamorphic rock in the central-western part of Western Australia. The complex outcrops at the exposed western end of the Capricorn Orogen, a 1,000 km-long arcuate belt of fol ...
*Dun Mountain-Maitai Terrane
The Dun Mountain-Maitai Terrane comprises the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt (also called the Mineral Belt), Maitai Group and Patuki Mélange. The Dun Mountain Ophiolite is an ophiolite of Permian age located in New Zealand's South Island. Prehistori ...
[
* Molong—Monaro Terrane
*]Murihiku Terrane
The Southland Syncline is a major geological structure located in the Southland Region of New Zealand's South Island. The syncline folds the Mesozoic greywackes of the Murihiku Terrane. The northern limb of the fold is steep to overturned, while ...
[
*]Narryer Gneiss Terrane
The Narryer Gneiss Terrane is a geological complex in Western Australia that is composed of a tectonically interleaved and polydeformed mixture of granite, mafic intrusions and metasedimentary rocks in excess of 3.3 billion years old, with the ...
*Takaka Terrane
The Takaka Terrane is a Paleozoic terrane that outcrops in the South Island of New Zealand. It is most extensively exposed within the Kahurangi National Park in the Tasman District. The terrane is mostly made up of marble and volcanic rocks but i ...
[
*]Torlesse Composite Terrane
The Torlesse Composite Terrane is a plate tectonic terrane forming part of the South Island of New Zealand. It contains the Rakaia, Aspiring and Pahau Terranes and the Esk Head Belt. Greywacke (or Torlesse Greywacke) is the dominant rock type of ...
[
*]Waipapa Composite Terrane
Waipapa is a small town in the Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand. It is around 10 minutes drive from Kerikeri, the nearest urban centre to Waipapa, located on State Highway 10. Waipapa itself has no school and most people travel into Ker ...
[
*]West Tasmanian Terrane
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
Europe
*Armorican terrane
The Armorican terrane, Armorican terrane assemblage, or simply Armorica, was a microcontinent or group of continental fragments that rifted away from Gondwana towards the end of the Silurian and collided with Laurussia towards the end of the Ca ...
*Avalonia
Avalonia was a microcontinent in the Paleozoic era. Crustal fragments of this former microcontinent underlie south-west Great Britain, southern Ireland, and the eastern coast of North America. It is the source of many of the older rocks of We ...
*Avalon Composite Terrane
Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...
*Balearic Terrane Balearic may refer to:
*Of the Balearic Islands
*The Balearic dialect of Catalan
*Balearic horse, a term sometimes used to describe either or both of these horse breeds in the region:
** Mallorquín
**Menorquín horse
*Balearic beat, a style of el ...
*Briançonnais Terrane Briançonnais may refer to:
*the people of Briançon
*, a natural region of France
*Briançonnais zone
The Briançonnais zone or Briançonnais terrane is a piece of continental crust found in the Penninic nappes of the Alps.
According to some ...
*Central Highlands Terrane
The Central Highlands Terrane in Scotland, also known as the Grampian Terrane, is a sequence of early Paleozoic metamorphic rocks containing many igneous intrusions. It stretches from the Great Glen Fault, south-east down to the Highland Bound ...
*Central Southern Uplands Terrane
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
*Charnwood Terrane
Charnwood may refer to:
County of Leicestershire, United Kingdom
* Borough of Charnwood, a local government district in the county of Leicestershire, England
** Charnwood Borough Council elections
* Charnwood (ward), an electoral ward and admini ...
*Hebridean Terrane
The Hebridean Terrane is one of the terranes that form part of the Caledonian orogenic belt in northwest Scotland. Its boundary with the neighbouring Northern Highland Terrane is formed by the Moine Thrust Belt. The basement is formed by Archae ...
* Leinster—Lakesman Terrane
*Midland Valley Terrane
Midland may refer to:
Places Australia
* Midland, Western Australia
Canada
* Midland, Albert County, New Brunswick
* Midland, Kings County, New Brunswick
* Midland, Newfoundland and Labrador
* Midland, Ontario
India
* Midland Ward, Kohima, Nag ...
*North Armorican Composite Terrane
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
*Northern Highlands Terrane
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
* Rosslare—Monian Terranes
*Southern North Sea Terrane
Southern may refer to:
Businesses
* China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China
* Southern Airways, defunct US airline
* Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US
* Southern Airways Express ...
* Tregor—La Hague Terrane
*Wrekin Terrane
The Wrekin Terrane is one of five inferred fault bounded terranes that make up the basement rocks of the southern United Kingdom. The other notable geological terranes in the region are the Charnwood Terrane, Fenland Terrane, Cymru Terrane and ...
Fennoscandia
* Bamble Terrane
* Idefjorden Terrane[
* Kongsberg Terrane][
* Telemarkia Terrane][
*]Western Gneiss Region
The Western Gneiss Region ( no, Gneisregionen) is a large geological unit in Norway chiefly made of gneiss rock that formed through metamorphism during the Caledonian orogeny. It makes up a tectono-stratigraphic terrane of the Scandinavian Caledon ...
North America
* Avalonia Terrane
*Bancroft Terrane Bancroft may refer to:
People
*Bancroft (surname)
Places Australia
* Bancroft, Queensland, a locality in the North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia
Canada
*Bancroft, Ontario
United Kingdom
* Bancroft, Milton Keynes
United States
* Bancrof ...
*Buffalo Head Terrane
The Buffalo Head Terrane (BHT) is a terrane in the western Canadian Shield in northern Alberta. It is covered by of Devonian and Cretaceous sediments and its centre is intruded by the 88–86 Ma kimberlites of the diamondiferous Buffalo Hea ...
*Cache Creek Terrane
The Cache Creek Terrane (alternately known as Cache Creek Melange ) is a geologic terrane in British Columbia and southern Yukon, Canada.
The Cache Creek Terrane consists of Carboniferous to Lower Jurassic volcanic rocks, carbonate rocks, coarse ...
*Carolina Terrane
Carolina may refer to:
Geography
* The Carolinas, the U.S. states of North and South Carolina
** North Carolina, a U.S. state
** South Carolina, a U.S. state
* Province of Carolina, a British province until 1712
* Carolina, Alabama, a town in t ...
*Cassiar Terrane
The Cassiar Terrane is a long Cretaceous terrane located in the Northern Interior of British Columbia and southern Yukon. It consists of miogeoclinal strata and contains the Cassiar Batholith
Cassiar may refer to:
*Cassiar, British Columbia, a ...
*Crescent Terrane
Siletzia is a massive formation of early to middle Eocene epoch marine basalts and interbedded sediments in the forearc of the Cascadia subduction zone, on the west coast of North America. It forms the basement rock under western Oregon and ...
*Elzevir Terrane Elzevir may refer to:
Places
* Elzevir, Ontario, a township in Hastings County
*Elzévir is a street that runs through the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. (See: 1, 2)
* Elzevir Lake, lake in the Moira River and Lake Ontario drainage basins in Twee ...
[
*]Frontenac Terrane Frontenac may refer to:
People
*Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor of New France
Places Canada
Quebec
*Château Frontenac, hotel in Quebec City
*Frontenac, Quebec
* Frontenac County, Quebec
*Frontenac (Montreal Metro), Montreal Metro station
* ...
[
*]Franciscan Complex
The Franciscan Complex or Franciscan Assemblage is a geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was named by geologist An ...
*Ganderia Terrane
Ganderia or Gander Terrane (located near the town Gander, Newfoundland) is a terrane in the northern Appalachians which broke off the supercontinent Gondwana (Ma) together with Avalonia, Megumia, and Carolinia.
Extent
The microcontinent Avalon ...
[
* Hottah Terrane
* Insular Superterrane
*]Intermontane Plate
The Intermontane Plate was an ancient oceanic tectonic plate that lay on the west coast of North America about 195 million years ago. The Intermontane Plate was surrounded by a chain of volcanic islands called the Intermontane Islands, which ha ...
and Intermontane Belt
The Intermontane Belt is a physical geology, physiogeological region in the Pacific Northwest of North America, stretching from northern Washington (U.S. state), Washington into British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. It comprises rolling hills, hig ...
*Meguma Terrane
The Meguma terrane, also known as Megumia, is a terrane exposed in southern Nova Scotia, that became joined to the present North American landmass as part of the Appalachian orogeny.
The exposed part of the Meguma terrane, the Meguma Group, is ...
[
*]Occidentalia Terrane
''Occidentalia'' is a monotypic moth genus of the family Crambidae described by Harrison Gray Dyar Jr. and Carl Heinrich in 1927. It contains only one species, ''Occidentalia comptulatalis'', described by George Duryea Hulst in 1886. It is found ...
*Pacific Rim Terrane
The Kula Plate was an oceanic tectonic plate under the northern Pacific Ocean south of the Near Islands segment of the Aleutian Islands. It has been subducted under the North American Plate at the Aleutian Trench, being replaced by the Pacific Pla ...
* Pearya Terrane
*Quesnellia
Quesnellia, or the Quesnel terrane, is a terrane in British Columbia, Canada; constituent of the Canadian Cordillera. It formed volcanic arc during the Mesozoic era, in the Triassic and Jurassic periods.
The Quesnel terrane forms part of the In ...
*Salinian Block
The Salinian Block or Salinian terrane is a geologic terrane which lies west of the main trace of the San Andreas Fault system in California. It is bounded on the south by the Big Pine Fault in Ventura County and on the west by the Nacimiento Fau ...
*Slide Mountain Terrane
The Slide Mountain Terrane is a late Paleozoic terrane made of a complex of oceanic rocks in northern and southern British Columbia, Canada. The rocks of the terrane include Carboniferous limestones, fine grained quartz rich clastics, conglomer ...
*Smartville Block
The Smartville Block, also called the Smartville Ophiolite, Smartville Complex, or Smartville Intrusive Complex, is a geologic terrane formed in the ocean from a volcanic island arc that was accreted onto the North American Plate during the late J ...
*Sonomia Terrane
The Sonomia Terrane is a geologic crustal block known as a "terrane" whose remnants today lie in northwest Nevada. The terrane acquired its name from the Sonoma Range in that region. The Sonomia Terrane is associated with the Golconda Thrust, a ...
*Steel Mountain Terrane
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
[
*]Stikinia
Stikinia, or the Stikine terrane, is a terrane in British Columbia, Canada; the largest of the Canadian Cordillera. It formed as an independent, intraoceanic volcanic arc during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic.
Stikinia forms the bedrock of numerous v ...
*Wrangellia Terrane
The Wrangellia Terrane (named for the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska) is a crustal fragment (terrane) extending from the south-central part of Alaska and along the Coast of British Columbia in Canada. Some geologists contend that Wrangellia extends ...
*Yakutat Block
The Yakutat Block is a terrane in the process of accreting to the North American continent along the south central coast of Alaska. It has been displaced about northward since the Cenozoic along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault system.
Th ...
* Yukon—Tanana Terrane
South America
*Arequipa-Antofalla
Arequipa-Antofalla is a basement unit underlying the central Andes in northwestern Argentina, western Bolivia, northern Chile and southern Peru. Geologically, it corresponds to a craton, terrane or block of continental crust. Arequipa-Antofalla c ...
*Chaitenia
Chaitenia is a distinct fragment of Earth's crust in southern Chile. Rocks of Chaitenia represents an ancient island arc that existed next to Patagonia which became eventually accreted to it. The accretion of Chaitenia to Patagonia occurred in t ...
*Chilenia
Chilenia was an ancient microcontinent or terrane whose history affected many of the older rocks of central Chile and western Argentina. It was once separated by oceanic crust from the Cuyania terrane to which it accreted at ~420-390 Ma when Cuya ...
* Chiloé Block
*Cuchilla Dionisio Terrane
*Cuyania
The Precordillera Terrane or Cuyania was an ancient microcontinent or terrane whose history affected many of the older rocks of Cuyo in Argentina. It was separated by oceanic crust from the Chilenia terrane which accreted into it at ~420-390 Ma w ...
* Fitz Roy Terrane
*Madre de Dios Terrane
Madre de Dios Terrane is a distinct fragment of Earth's crust in southwestern Patagonia. Subduction made the Madre de Dios Terrane collide and accrete to Patagonia (then part of Gondwana) in the Mesozoic. This accretion is thought to have happe ...
* Mejillonía
*Nico Pérez Terrane
The geology of Uruguay combines areas of Precambrian-aged shield (geology), shield geological unit, units with a region of volcanic rock erupted during the Cretaceous and copious sedimentary rock, sedimentary facies the oldest of which date from t ...
*Pampia
Pampia was an ancient microcontinent or terrane that collided with Río de la Plata Craton and Río Apas Craton during the Pampean orogeny of late Proterozoic and early Cambrian. It was one of the first terranes to be amalgamated to the old crat ...
*Paranapanema block The Paranapanema block is a coherent block of lithosphere located in southeastern South America spanning roughly the same area as the Paraná Basin. The existence of a tectonically stable zone beneath the Paraná Basin was first suggested in 1975. ...
* Piedra Alta Terrane
* Tandilia Terrane
References
Citations
General bibliography
* McPhee, John (1981). ''Basin and Range''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
* McPhee, John (1983). ''In Suspect Terrain''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
* McPhee, John (1993). ''Assembling California''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
External links
West Antarctica terrane analysis
{{Structural geology