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Year by year the Earth sciences grow more diverse, with an
inevitable increase in the degree to which rampant specialization
isolates the practitioners of an ever larger number of sub fields.
An increasing emphasis on sophisticated mathematics, physics and
chemistry as well as the use of advanced technology have. set up
barriers often impenetrable to the uninitiated. Ironically, the
potential value of many specialities for other, often
non-contiguous once has also increased. What is at the present time
quiet, unseen work in a remote corner of our discipline, may
tomorrow enhance, even revitalize some entirely different area. The
rising flood of research reports has drastically cut the time we
have available for free reading. The enormous proliferation of
journals expressly aimed at small, select audiences has raised the
threshold of access to a large part of the literature so much that
many of us are unable to cross it. This, most would agree, is not
only unfortunate but downright dangerous, limiting by sheer bulk of
paper or difficulty of comprehension, the flow of information
across the Earth sciences because, after all it is just one earth
that we all study, and cross fertilization is the key to progress.
If one knows where to obtain much needed data or inspiration, no
effort is too great. It is when we remain unaware of its existence
(perhaps even in the office next door) that stagnation soon sets
in.
Since the 1960s, the general theory of plate tectonics has provided
a clear link between the geological processes of seafloor
spreading, subduction and mountain building. However, details of
how this theory relates to continental tectonics are still unclear;
the nature of the theory itself may depend upon the recent
interpretation of tectonostratigraphic terranes, areas where
geologic relations are uncertain, suspect and possibly unrelated.
This book introduces the reader to the principles of terrane
analysis, and describes how accretion tectonics relates to classic
plate tectonic theory and what this represents in terms of mountain
building and continental growth processes. A forensic-like
investigation of continental geology is detailed, integrating many
different sub-disciplines of the Earth Sciences. The concepts
outlined have a practical bent and help to explain the nature and
occurrences of petroleum and metallic mineral deposits. Written in
a lively manner, the author conveys his enthusiasm for the subject
and puts across complex ideas in a way that is easy to comprehend.
Senior undergraduates and graduate students will find this a useful
synthesis of structural geology and tectonics. Petroleum and
mineral explorationists, paleogeographers, structural geologists
and earthquake seismologists will also find the ideas condensed in
this advanced text invaluable.
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