Physics
Scientific paper
Mar 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992sciam.266...84m&link_type=abstract
Scientific American (ISSN 0036-8733), vol. 266, April 1992, p. 84-91.
Physics
2
Continental Drift, Earth Sciences, Mountains, Planetary Evolution, Satellite Observation, Tectonics, Earth Movements, Landsat Satellites
Scientific paper
A new theory on the origin of the earth's mountain belts is proposed. It is shown that the mountain-building process on earth is a part of tectonic interactions associated with the formation and breakup of Pangaea or an older supercontinents and that the remains of mountain belts that are 600 million to 800 million years old show signs of association with supercontinents older than Pangaea. Each of these belts shows signs of widespread deformation, thrusting, and crustal thickening, indicative of interior orogenies, where continents collided. Estimated ages deduced for the most extensive interior orogenies (indicating the fusion of a supercontinent) and pulses of rifting (associated with breakups), indicate that continental collisions followed by major rifting episodes occurred in several pulses that took place 1000 to 2700 million years ago, suggesting that the supercontinent cycle has been a long-standing feature of the earth's surface evolution.
Brendan Murphy J.
Nance Damian R.
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