Hit-and-run collision model for the Laramide orogeny, western United States

Terrane assembly and geodynamic evolution of central–western Hoggar: a synthesis

“…So both the Pharusian and the western terranes are not represented in the south Saharan regions. The shear zone system of the Trans-Saharan belt thus suggests differential ''run'' of terranes east of the rigid west-African craton, a situation that compares well to the motion of terranes in the Laramide orogen (Maxson and Tikoff, 1996). However, an apparent major difference with Phanerozoic belts is the lack of well-identified remnants of oceanic lithosphere in the shield, at variance with the Nubian-Arabian shield where several Neoproterozoic ophiolitic assemblages are preserved mostly at shallow crustal levels (Stern, 1994).…”

Climate sensitivity to changes in land surface characteristics

“…The new topography was created region by region. First, elevation estimates and tectonic histories of prominent Ž features were gathered e.g., Molnar and Tapponier, 1975;Tapponier and Molnar, 1979;Plaziat, 1981;Molnar et al, 1987;Taylor et al, 1990;Roehler, 1993;Fitzgerald, 1994;Maxson and Tikoff, 1996;Allmendinger et al, 1997;Lamb and Hoke, 1997;. Chorowicz et al, 1998;Gurnis et al, 1998 .…”

Accretionary orogens through Earth history

“…It is considered by many to constitute the main (sole) driving force for convergent margin orogenesis in that 'eventually a downgoing plate will carry continental or island arc crust into a subduction zone' (Moores & Twiss 1995, p. 212) to induce arc -arc or arc-continent collision, or terrane accretion (Dickinson 1977;Coney et al 1980). Maxson & Tikoff (1996) argued that Cordilleran terrane accretion was the driving mechanism for the Laramide orogeny. Recent work in the Cordillera has emphasized that the number of terranes in the Cordillera is considerably less than originally envisaged by Coney and colleagues, and that many of the remaining terranes may not be suspect but are upper plate fragments that represent arcs and continental ribbons that lay outboard of, and along strike from, the Cordilleran margin (Monger & Knokleberg 1996;Johnston 2001;Colpron & Nelson 2006Colpron et al 2007).…”

“…Ramos et al 2002) and suspect terrane accretion (e.g. Maxson & Tikoff 1996) should be spatially limited to the region of either the flat slab or the accretion zone, which in turn should result in short-lived orogenesis and/or diachronous events that migrate along the convergent margin in harmony with the subducted plate movement vector. These are local mechanisms in which the effect (e.g.…”