Consisting of papers that have appeared recently in International Geology Review, Middle American Terranes, Potential Correlatives, and Orogenic Processes focuses on Middle American terranes in which tectonic processes, including flat-slab subduction, for orogenic development are examined at various times since the late Mesoproterozoic: at 1 Ga, through the Paleozoic, and into the Cenozoic. Many papers relate the evolution of the Middle American terranes over the past billion years to global scale events, and a second theme running through the book relates to the supercontinents, Rodinia and Pangea, the geometry of their amalgamation and breakup, and the processes responsible. Highlights include: * An update on the geographic record, tectonic setting, and provenance of these terranes * Documentation of allocthonous nature and position peripheral to Amazonia of the ~1 Ga basement of southern Mexico * Data demonstrating that the basement rocks were involved in several Phanerozoic tectonic events * An examination of new evidence of a Late Paleozoic event associated with the amalgamation of Pangea overprinting the ~1 Ga basement and the Paleozoic units lying chiefly to the west and south of it * An exploration of the following potential correlatives: (1) events in Europe on the northern margin of Gondwana; (2) the Late Silurian-Devonian Acadian orogeny in the Appalachian, which is inferred to have resulted from flat-slab subduction related to overriding a plume; and (3) Mesozoic-Cenozoic events along the western margin of Laurentia * A discussion of possible mechanisms for the initiation of orogeny, flat-slab subduction in the Laramide orogeny, and hypotheses relating to the amalgamation and breakup of supercontine

This series of monographs represents continuation on an international basis of the previous series MINERALOGIE UNO PETROGRAPHIE IN EINZELOARSTELLUNGEN, published by Springer-Verlag. The voluminous results arising from recent progress in pure and applied re search increase the need for authoritative reviews but the standard scientific journals are unable to provide the space for them. By their very nature, text-books are unable to consider specific topics in depth and recent research met'hods and results often receive only cursory treat ment. Advanced reference volumes are usually too detailed except for experts in the field. It is often very expensive to purchase a symposium volume or an "Advances in . . . " volume for the sake of a specific review chapter surrounded by unrelated chapters. We hope that this monograph series will by-pass these problems in fulfilling the need. The purpose of the series is to publish, at reasonable prices, reviews and reports of care fully selected topics written by carefully selected authors, who are both good writers and experts in their scientific field. In general, the mono graphs will be concerned with the most recent research methods and results. The editors hope that the monographs will serve several functions, acting as supplements to existing text-books, guiding research workers, and providing the basis for advanced seminars. August 1967 W. VON ENGELHARDT, Tiibingen T. HAHN, Aachen R. Roy, University Park, Pa. J. W. WINCHESTER, Ann Arbor, Mich. P. J. WYLLIE, Chicago, Ill."

Presents the fundamental principles constructed from the nature of minerals and rocks to the plate tectonics.

Consisting of papers that have appeared recently in International Geology Review, Middle American Terranes, Potential Correlatives, and Orogenic Processes focuses on Middle American terranes in which tectonic processes, including flat-slab subduction, for orogenic development are examined at various times since the late Mesoproterozoic: at 1 Ga, through the Paleozoic, and into the Cenozoic. Many papers relate the evolution of the Middle American terranes over the past billion years to global scale events, and a second theme running through the book relates to the supercontinents, Rodinia and Pangea, the geometry of their amalgamation and breakup, and the processes responsible. Highlights include: * An update on the geographic record, tectonic setting, and provenance of these terranes * Documentation of allocthonous nature and position peripheral to Amazonia of the ~1 Ga basement of southern Mexico * Data demonstrating that the basement rocks were involved in several Phanerozoic tectonic events * An examination of new evidence of a Late Paleozoic event associated with the amalgamation of Pangea overprinting the ~1 Ga basement and the Paleozoic units lying chiefly to the west and south of it * An exploration of the following potential correlatives: (1) events in Europe on the northern margin of Gondwana; (2) the Late Silurian-Devonian Acadian orogeny in the Appalachian, which is inferred to have resulted from flat-slab subduction related to overriding a plume; and (3) Mesozoic-Cenozoic events along the western margin of Laurentia * A discussion of possible mechanisms for the initiation of orogeny, flat-slab subduction in the Laramide orogeny, and hypotheses relating to the amalgamation and breakup of supercontine