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Gondwana

About: Gondwana is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6078 publications have been published within this topic receiving 263050 citations. The topic is also known as: Gondwanaland.


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Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 2006-Geology
TL;DR: The Rheic Ocean is widely believed to have formed in the Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician as a result of the drift of peri-Gondwanan terranes such as Avalonia and Carolina, from the northern margin of Gondwana, and to have been consumed in the Devonian Carboniferous by continent-continent collision during the formation of Pangea as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Rheic Ocean is widely believed to have formed in the Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician as a result of the drift of peri-Gondwanan terranes, such as Avalonia and Carolina, from the northern margin of Gondwana, and to have been consumed in the Devonian Carboniferous by continent-continent collision during the formation of Pangea. Other peri-Gondwanan terranes (e.g., Armorica, Ossa-Morena, northwest Iberia, Saxo-Thuringia, Moldanubia) remained along the Gondwanan margin at the time of Rheic Ocean formation. Differences in the Neoproterozoic histories of these peri-Gondwanan terranes suggest the location of the Rheic Ocean rift may have been inherited from Neoproterozoic lithospheric structures formed by the accretion and dispersal of peri-Gondwanan terranes along the northern Gondwanan margin prior to Rheic Ocean opening. Avalonia and Carolina have Sm-Nd isotopic characteristics indicative of recycling of a juvenile ca. 1 Ga source, and they were accreted to the northern Gondwanan margin prior to voluminous late Neoproterozoic arc magmatism. In contrast, Sm-Nd isotopic characteristics of most other peri-Gondwanan terranes closely match those of Eburnian basement, suggesting they reflect recycling of ancient (2 Ga) West African crust. The basements of terranes initially rifted from Gondwana to form the Rheic Ocean were those that had previously accreted during Neoproterozoic orogenesis, suggesting the rift was located near the suture between the accreted terranes and cratonic northern Gondwana. Opening of the Rheic Ocean coincided with the onset of subduction beneath the Laurentian margin in its predecessor, the Iapetus Ocean, suggesting geodynamic linkages between the destruction of the Iapetus Ocean and the creation of the Rheic Ocean.

321 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the major tectonic and igneous events that led to the formation of Peninsular India and provide an up-to-date geochronologic summary of the Precambrian.

318 citations

BookDOI
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: In the early Neogene period, the Levant margin became a col-lisional boundary and a new Levant margin becoming a transform boundary in the Neogene as mentioned in this paper, which allowed the almost uninterrupted accumulation of thick sediments over a vast area including extensive organic-rich source rock deposits as well as good reservoir and seal units.
Abstract: Reported proven hydrocarbon reserves of the Arabian plate region at the start of 1991 totaled 663.2 billion barrels (B bbl) of oil and 1,325.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas (66.4% and 31.5% of the world's oil and gas reserves, respectively). More than 98% of these are concentrated in the northeast margin region between northwest Iraq and Central Oman and lie in reservoirs ranging in age from late Paleozoic to early Neogene. Additional reserves, however, increasingly are being established along the other Arabian plate margins and in intra-plate basins. Occurrence of reserves, age and distribution of the sediments that generated or preserved them, and the formation of the mainly large structural (and other) traps are linked intimately to differing histories of plate margin evolution. The proper understanding of these histories could lead to additional reserves being established. The Arabian plate margins evolved at different times, the first being the northeast passive margin. This permitted the almost uninterrupted accumulation of thick sediments over a vast area including areally extensive organic-rich source rock deposits as well as good reservoir and seal units. The north/northeast margin(s) became a col-lisional boundary and a new Levant margin became a transform boundary in the Neogene. Consolidation of the Afro-Arabian craton in the latest Proterozoic and Early Cambrian created a prominent north-south basement “grain” and a northwest-southeast (Najd) shear fracture system. Rejuvenations (affecting structures/sediment patterns) occurred in later periods and have controlled major hydrocarbon occurrences. From latest Proterozoic to late Paleozoic time, the present north/northeast Arabian plate margin region, Anatolia, central Iran and the Afghan and Indian plates formed part of the long and very wide northern passive margin of Gondwana. This region was intermittently covered by shallow epeiric seas and bordering lowland.

317 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Feb 2002
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the first Variscan orogenic event is the result of a collision between terranes detached from Gondwana (grouped as the Hun superterrane) and terrane detached from Eurasia.
Abstract: The well-known Variscan basement areas of Europe contain relic terranes with a pre-Variscan evolution testifying to their peri-Gondwanan origin (e.g., relics of Neoproterozoic volcanic arcs, and subsequent stages of accretionary wedges, backarc rifting, and spreading). The evolution of these terranes was guided by the diachronous subduction of the proto-Tethys oceanic ridge under different segments of the Gondwana margin. This subduction triggered the emplacement of magmatic bodies and the formation of backarc rifts, some of which became major oceanic realms (Rheic, paleoTethys). Consequently, the drifting of Avalonia was followed, after the Silurian and a short Ordovician orogenic event, by the drifting of Armorica and Alpine domains, accompanied by the opening of the paleo-Tethys. The slab rollback of the Rheic ocean is viewed as the major mechanism for the drifting of the European Variscan terranes. This, in turn, generated a large slab pull force responsible for the opening of major rift zones within the passive Eurasian margin. Therefore, the µrst Middle Devonian Variscan orogenic event is viewed as the result of a collision between terranes detached from Gondwana (grouped as the Hun superterrane) and terranes detached from Eurasia. Subsequently, the amalgamated terranes collided with Eurasia in a second Variscan orogenic event in Visean time, accompanied by large-scale lateral escape of major parts of the accreted margin. Final collision of Gondwana with Laurussia did not take place before Late Carboniferous time and was responsible for the Alleghanian orogeny.

316 citations

Book
21 Dec 1981
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the evolution of the Southern African crustal structure and its evolution in the early Proterozoic stage, and propose a model of the evolution.
Abstract: 1 Tectonic Framework.- 1.1. Cratons, Mobile Belts, and Structural Provinces.- 1.2. Gravity Field and Crustal Structure.- 1.3. Evolutionary Stages in the Southern African Crust.- 1.4. Stage 1: Archean Crustal Development.- 1.5. Stage 2: Early Proterozoic Supracrustal Development.- 1.6. Stage 3: Proterozoic Orogenic Activity.- 1.7. Stage 4: The Gondwana Era.- 1.8. Stage 5: After Gondwana.- Stage 1: Archean Crustal Evolution.- 2 Granite-Greenstone Terrane: Kaapvaal Province.- 2.1. The Early Gneiss Terranes.- 2.2. Swaziland Supergroup: A Uniquely Preserved Early Archean Supracrustal Pile.- 2.3. Other Kaapvaal Greenstone Belts.- 2.4. Archean Cratonization: Granitoid Emplacement in the Eastern Kaapvaal Province.- 2.5. Pongola Supergroup: The Oldest Cratonic Cover.- 2.6. Post-Pongola Magmatism.- 2.7. Broad Implications of Archean Crustal Development in the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe Provinces.- 3 Granulite-Gneiss Terrane: Limpopo Province.- 3.1. Extent of Limpopo Province.- 3.2. Northern Marginal Zone.- 3.3. Central Zone-Limpopo Valley.- 3.4. Central Zone-Botswana.- 3.5. The Southern Marginal Zone.- Stage 2: Early Proterozoic Supracrustal Development.- 4 The Golden Proterozoic.- 4.1. Dominion Group: The Witwatersrand Protobasin.- 4.2. West Rand Group: The Witwatersrand Sea.- 4.3. Central Rand Group: Alluvial-Fan Environments.- 4.4. Ventersdorp Supergroup: Crustal Fracturing.- 5 The Transvaal Epeiric Sea.- 5.1. Protobasinal Phase.- 5.2. Inundation of the Kaapvaal Province.- 5.3. Sedimentation in a Clear-water Epeiric Sea.- 5.4. Renewed Terrigenous Influx and Progradation.- 5.5. Depositional History of the Epeiric Sea.- 6 The Bushveld Complex: A Unique Layered Intrusion The Vredefort Dome: Astrobleme or Gravity-Driven Diapir?.- 6.1. Framework of the Complex.- 6.2. Magmatic and Volcanic Stratigraphy.- 6.3. Age of the Bushveld Event.- 6.4. Geochemistry.- 6.5. Petrogenesis: Origin of Parent Magmas and Igneous Layering.- 6.6. Contact Metamorphism.- 6.7. Sulfide Mineralization.- 6.8. Vredefort Dome.- 6.9. Structural Setting and Mechanics of Intrusion.- 7 The Earliest Red Beds.- 7.1 The Intracratonic Waterberg Group.- 7.2. Soutpansberg Trough.- 7.3. The Miogeoclinal Umkondo Group.- 7.4. The Craton-Edge Matsap Group.- 7.5. Synthesis.- Stage 3: Proterozoic Orogenic Activity.- 8 Namaqua-Natal Granulite-Gneiss Terranes.- 8.1. The Natal Province.- 8.2. The Namaqua Province.- 8.3. Eastern Marginal Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 8.4. Western Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 8.5. Central Zone of the Namaqua Province.- 9 The Pan African Geosynclines.- 9.1. The Gariep Geosyncline.- 9.2. The Intracratonic Nama Platform Succession.- 9.3. The Malmesbury Geosyncline in the Western Saldanian Province.- 9.4. Pre-Cape Basins in the Eastern Saldanian Province.- 9.5. The Damara Province: Keystone of the Pan African Framework.- Stage 4: The Gondwana Era.- 10 The Cape Trough: An Aborted Rift.- 10.1. Table Mountain Group: The Quartz Arenite Problem.- 10.2. The Natal Embayment.- 10.3. Paleogeographic Synthesis of the Table Mountain and Natal Groups.- 10.4. Bokkeveld Group: Allocyclic Control Over Delta Progradation and Reworking.- 10.5. Witteberg Group: The Cape-Karoo Transition.- 11 The Intracratonic Karoo Basin.- 11.1. Glaciogene Dwyka Sedimentation.- 11.2. Postglacial Epicontinental Ecca Basin.- 11.3. The Beaufort Group: Fluvial Aggradation in a Foreland Basin.- 11.4. Upper Karoo Sedimentation.- 11.5. Cape Orogeny.- 11.6. Karoo Volcanism.- Stage 5: After Gondwana.- 12 Fragmentation and Mesozoic Paleogeography.- 12.1. The Proto-Atlantic Margin.- 12.2. Evolution of the Southern Continental Margin.- 12.3. The Transkei Swell and the Zululand Basin.- 12.4. Synthesis.- 13 Kimberlites and Associated Alkaline Magmatism.- 13.1. Carbonatites.- 13.2. Alkaline Complexes.- 13.3. Kimberlites.- 13.4. Petrogenesis of Alkaline Rocks.- 14 Changing Climates and Sea Levels: The Cenozoic Record.- 14.1. Tertiary Coastal Environments.- 14.2. Tertiary Shelf Sedimentation.- 14.3. Quaternary Transgressions and Regressions.- 14.4. The Interior Basin.- 14.5. Cenozoic Biogeography and Climatic Evolution.- References.

316 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023269
2022497
2021307
2020281
2019293
2018230