Terrane: Difference between revisions
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In [[geology]], a '''terrane''' ({{IPAc-en|t|ə|ˈ|r|eɪ|n|,_|ˈ|t|ɛr|eɪ|n}};<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|terrane |access-date=2022-10-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite Dictionary.com|terrane |access-date=2023-04-02}}</ref> in full, a [[tectonostratigraphy|tectonostratigraphic]] terrane) is a [[crust (geology)|crust]] fragment formed on a [[plate tectonics|tectonic plate]] (or broken off from it) and [[accretion (geology)|accreted]] or "[[suture (geology)|sutured]]" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its distinctive geologic history, which is different from the surrounding areas—hence the term "exotic" terrane. The suture zone between a terrane and the crust it attaches to is usually identifiable as a [[fault (geology)|fault]]. A [[sedimentary rock|sedimentary]] deposit that buries the contact of the terrane with adjacent rock is called an '''overlap formation'''. An [[igneous rock|igneous]] intrusion that has intruded and obscured the contact of a terrane with adjacent rock is called a [[igneous intrusion|stitching pluton]]. | In [[geology]], a '''terrane''' ({{IPAc-en|t|ə|ˈ|r|eɪ|n|,_|ˈ|t|ɛr|eɪ|n}};<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|terrane |access-date=2022-10-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite Dictionary.com|terrane |access-date=2023-04-02}}</ref> in full, a [[tectonostratigraphy|tectonostratigraphic]] terrane) is a [[crust (geology)|crust]] fragment formed on a [[plate tectonics|tectonic plate]] (or broken off from it) and [[accretion (geology)|accreted]] or "[[suture (geology)|sutured]]" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its distinctive geologic history, which is different from the surrounding areas—hence the term "exotic" terrane. The suture zone between a terrane and the crust it attaches to is usually identifiable as a [[fault (geology)|fault]]. A [[sedimentary rock|sedimentary]] deposit that buries the contact of the terrane with adjacent rock is called an '''overlap formation'''. An [[igneous rock|igneous]] intrusion that has intruded and obscured the contact of a terrane with adjacent rock is called a [[igneous intrusion|stitching pluton]]. | ||
There is also an older usage of the term ''terrane'', which described a series of related rock formations or an area with a preponderance of a particular rock or rock group. | There is also an older usage of the term ''terrane'', which described a series of related [[rock formations]] or an area with a preponderance of a particular rock or rock group. | ||
==Overview== | ==Overview== | ||
[[File:JPVD-NGTM2023-Terranes.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Map showing terranes of Earth's crust (continental blocks (green outlines), oceanic plates (blue outlines), and mobile zones (orange outlines))]] | |||
[[File:Tectonic plates (2022).svg|thumb|upright=1.8|Map of Earth's principal [[plate tectonics|lithospheric plates]]]] | |||
A tectonostratigraphic terrane did not necessarily originate as an independent [[List of tectonic plates#Microplates|microplate]], since it may not contain the full thickness of the [[lithosphere]]. It is a piece of [[crust (geology)|crust]] that has been transported laterally, usually as part of a larger plate, and is relatively buoyant due to thickness or low density. When the plate of which it was a part [[subduction|subducted]] under another plate, the terrane failed to subduct, detached from its transporting plate, and accreted onto the overriding plate. Therefore, the terrane transferred from one plate to the other. Typically, accreting terranes are portions of [[continental crust]] which have [[rift]]ed off another continental mass and been transported surrounded by oceanic crust, or they are old [[island arc]]s formed at some distant subduction zones. | A tectonostratigraphic terrane did not necessarily originate as an independent [[List of tectonic plates#Microplates|microplate]], since it may not contain the full thickness of the [[lithosphere]]. It is a piece of [[crust (geology)|crust]] that has been transported laterally, usually as part of a larger plate, and is relatively buoyant due to thickness or low density. When the plate of which it was a part [[subduction|subducted]] under another plate, the terrane failed to subduct, detached from its transporting plate, and accreted onto the overriding plate. Therefore, the terrane transferred from one plate to the other. Typically, accreting terranes are portions of [[continental crust]] which have [[rift]]ed off another continental mass and been transported surrounded by oceanic crust, or they are old [[island arc]]s formed at some distant subduction zones. | ||
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'''Taiwan''' | '''Taiwan''' | ||
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*[[Coastal Range terrane]]<ref name="Okaya_et_al_2016">{{cite journal | title= | *[[Coastal Range terrane]]<ref name="Okaya_et_al_2016">{{cite journal | title=Terrane-controlled crustal shear wave splitting in Taiwan | first1=D. | last1=Okaya | first2=N.I. | last2=Christensen | first3=Z.E. | last3=Ross| first4=F.T. | last4=Wu | journal=Geophysical Research Letters | year=2016 | volume=43 | issue=2 | pages=556–563 | doi=10.1002/2015GL066446| bibcode=2016GeoRL..43..556O | doi-access=free }}</ref> | ||
*[[Longitudinal Valley terrane]]<ref name="Okaya_et_al_2016"/> | *[[Longitudinal Valley terrane]]<ref name="Okaya_et_al_2016"/> | ||
*[[Eastern Central Range terrane]]<ref name="Okaya_et_al_2016"/> | *[[Eastern Central Range terrane]]<ref name="Okaya_et_al_2016"/> | ||
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'''Australasia''' | '''Australasia''' | ||
{{colbegin|colwidth=18em}} | {{colbegin|colwidth=18em}} | ||
*[[Brook Street terrane]]<ref name=Mortimer>{{cite journal|last1=Mortimer|first1=N|last2=Rattenbury|first2=MS|last3=King|first3=PR|last4=Bland|first4=KJ|last5=Barrell|first5=DJA|last6=Bache|first6=F|last7=Begg|first7=JG|last8=Campbell|first8=HJ|last9=Cox|first9=SC|last10=Crampton|first10=JS|last11=Edbrooke|first11=SW|last12=Forsyth|first12=PJ|last13=Johnston|first13=MR|last14=Jongens|first14=R|last15=Lee|first15=JM|last16=Leonard|first16=GS|last17=Raine|first17=JI|last18=Skinner|first18=DNB|last19=Timm|first19=C|last20=Townsend|first20=DB|last21=Tulloch|first21=AJ|last22=Turnbull|first22=IM|last23=Turnbull|first23=RE|title=High-level stratigraphic scheme for New Zealand rocks|journal=New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics|volume=57|issue=4|year=2014|pages=402–419|issn=0028-8306|doi=10.1080/00288306.2014.946062|doi-access=free}}</ref> | *[[Brook Street terrane]]<ref name=Mortimer>{{cite journal|last1=Mortimer|first1=N|last2=Rattenbury|first2=MS|last3=King|first3=PR|last4=Bland|first4=KJ|last5=Barrell|first5=DJA|last6=Bache|first6=F|last7=Begg|first7=JG|last8=Campbell|first8=HJ|last9=Cox|first9=SC|last10=Crampton|first10=JS|last11=Edbrooke|first11=SW|last12=Forsyth|first12=PJ|last13=Johnston|first13=MR|last14=Jongens|first14=R|last15=Lee|first15=JM|last16=Leonard|first16=GS|last17=Raine|first17=JI|last18=Skinner|first18=DNB|last19=Timm|first19=C|last20=Townsend|first20=DB|last21=Tulloch|first21=AJ|last22=Turnbull|first22=IM|last23=Turnbull|first23=RE|title=High-level stratigraphic scheme for New Zealand rocks|journal=New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics|volume=57|issue=4|year=2014|pages=402–419|issn=0028-8306|doi=10.1080/00288306.2014.946062|bibcode=2014NZJGG..57..402M|doi-access=free}}</ref> | ||
*[[Buller terrane]]<ref name=Mortimer/> | *[[Buller terrane]]<ref name=Mortimer/> | ||
*[[Caples terrane]]<ref name=Mortimer/> | *[[Caples terrane]]<ref name=Mortimer/> | ||
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*[[Steel Mountain terrane]]<ref name=Miller/> | *[[Steel Mountain terrane]]<ref name=Miller/> | ||
*[[Stikinia]] | *[[Stikinia]] | ||
*[[Suwannee terrane]] | |||
*[[Wrangellia terrane]] | *[[Wrangellia terrane]] | ||
*[[Yakutat Block]] | *[[Yakutat Block]] | ||
Latest revision as of 17:09, 2 December 2025
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In geology, a terrane (Template:IPAc-en;[1][2] in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and accreted or "sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its distinctive geologic history, which is different from the surrounding areas—hence the term "exotic" terrane. The suture zone between a terrane and the crust it attaches to is usually identifiable as a fault. A sedimentary deposit that buries the contact of the terrane with adjacent rock is called an overlap formation. An igneous intrusion that has intruded and obscured the contact of a terrane with adjacent rock is called a stitching pluton.
There is also an older usage of the term terrane, which described a series of related rock formations or an area with a preponderance of a particular rock or rock group.
Overview
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A tectonostratigraphic terrane did not necessarily originate as an independent microplate, since it may not contain the full thickness of the lithosphere. It is a piece of crust that has been transported laterally, usually as part of a larger plate, and is relatively buoyant due to thickness or low density. When the plate of which it was a part subducted under another plate, the terrane failed to subduct, detached from its transporting plate, and accreted onto the overriding plate. Therefore, the terrane transferred from one plate to the other. Typically, accreting terranes are portions of continental crust which have rifted off another continental mass and been transported surrounded by oceanic crust, or they are old island arcs formed at some distant subduction zones.
A tectonostratigraphic terrane is a fault-bounded package of rocks of at least regional extent characterized by a geologic history that differs from that of neighboring terranes. The essential characteristic of these terranes is that the present spatial relations are incompatible with the inferred geologic histories. Where terranes that lie next to each other possess strata of the same age, they are considered separate terranes only if it can be demonstrated that the geologic evolutions are different and incompatible. There must be an absence of intermediate lithofacies that could link the strata.
The concept of tectonostratigraphic terrane developed from studies in the 1970s of the complicated Pacific Cordilleran orogenic margin of North America, a complex and diverse geological potpourri that was difficult to explain until the new science of plate tectonics illuminated the ability of crustal fragments to "drift" thousands of miles from their origin and attach themselves, crumpled, to an exotic shore. Such terranes were dubbed "accreted terranes" by geologists. Geologist J. N. Carney writes:
When terranes are composed of repeated accretionary events, and hence are composed of subunits with distinct history and structure, they may be called superterranes.[3]
List of tectonostratigraphic terranes
Template:Expand list Africa
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Asia
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Taiwan
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Tibet
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Australasia
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Europe
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- Alkapeca
- Armorican terrane
- Avalonia
- Avalon Composite terrane
- Balearic terrane
- Briançonnais terrane
- Central Highlands terrane
- Central Southern Uplands terrane
- Charnwood terrane
- Hebridean terrane
- Leinster—Lakesman terrane
- Midland Valley terrane
- North Armorican Composite terrane
- Northern Highlands terrane
- Rosslare—Monian Terranes
- Southern North Sea terrane
- Tregor—La Hague terrane
- Wrekin terrane[8]
Fennoscandia
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North America
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- Avalonia terrane[11]
- Bancroft terrane[12]
- Buffalo Head terrane
- Cache Creek terrane
- Carolina terrane
- Cassiar terrane
- Crescent terrane
- Elzevir terrane[12]
- Frontenac terrane[12]
- Franciscan Complex
- Ganderia terrane[11]
- Hottah terrane
- Insular Superterrane
- Intermontane Plate and Intermontane Belt
- Meguma terrane[11]
- Occidentalia terrane
- Pacific Rim terrane
- Pearya terrane
- Quesnellia
- Salinian Block
- Slide Mountain terrane
- Smartville Block
- Sonomia terrane
- Steel Mountain terrane[12]
- Stikinia
- Suwannee terrane
- Wrangellia terrane
- Yakutat Block
- Yukon–Tanana terrane
South America
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References
Citations
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- ↑ Template:Cite Dictionary.com
- ↑ "Terranes" Template:Webarchive University of British Columbia website
- ↑ Schematic map of the Siberian craton showing boundaries of the craton and its terranes
- ↑ a b c d e f g Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d e f Aitchison, J. C., Ali, J. R., and Davis, A. M. (2007) "When and where did India and Asia collide?" Journal of Geophysical Research, v.112, pp.1–19
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Pharao, et al. (1996) Tectonic map of Britain, Ireland & adjacent areas UK:British Geological Survey
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General bibliography
- McPhee, John (1981). Basin and Range. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- McPhee, John (1983). In Suspect Terrain. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- McPhee, John (1993). Assembling California. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.