Continental Rifts : Evolution, Structure, Tectonics

by Olsen, Kenneth H.

• ISBN13: 9780444895660
• ISBN10: 0444895663
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-11-01
• Publisher: Elsevier Science Ltd

Summary

This multi-author book has been prepared by an international group of geoscientists that have been active in rift research since the late 1960s. In 1984, an informal, grass-roots study group was initiated to compare individual research results and to explore in greater depth the apparent differences and similarities in the interpretations from various rift systems. The group became known as the CREST working group, an acronym of Continental Rifts: Evolution, Structure and Tectonics, which not surprisingly became the title of this book. Continental Rifts: Evolution, Structure, Tectonics presents an overview of the present state of understanding and knowledge of the processes of continental rifting from a multidisciplinary, lithospheric scale perspective. The chapters have been structured on each rift system in approximately the same synoptic sequence, so as to facilitate comparisons of rifts by the reader. The book complements its predecessors by presenting a more unified picture. It succeeds in presenting the status of a representative majority of the continental rift systems that have been at the forefront of recent research. For students and experienced researchers alike, this book will be of significant value in assessing the current state of knowledge and in serving as a framework for future research.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction and Overview

Introduction: progress in understanding continental rifts

Mechanisms of rifting: geodynamic modeling of continental rift systems

Methods of Investigation: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives. Petrology,geochemistry, isotopes

Modern Rifts

The European Cenozoic rift system

The East African rift system

The Rio Grande rift

The Basin and Range province

The Baikal rift system

Paleorifts

The Oslo rift

The Midcontinent Rift System, U.S.A.: a major Proterozoic continental rift

Rifted passive margins

The Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen

West and Central African rift system

Epilogue Continental rifting: a final perspective

Subject index.

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