This volume focuses on the Canadian Appalachian region. The chapter on the East Greenland Caledonides stands alone and there is no attempt to integrate the geological accounts of the two far removed regions. Rocks of the Canadian Appalachian region are described under four broad temporal divisions: lower Paleozoic and older, middle Paleozoic, upper Paleozoic, and Mesozoic. The rocks of these temporal divisions define geographic zones, belts, basins, and graben, respectively. The area is of special interest because so many modern concepts of mountain building are based on Appalachian rocks & structures.

Wilks provides a historical background, list of publications, and description of activities for most of the major science initiatives undertaken at the federal level. He surveys a wide range of government documents and monographic and serial science collections used by both faculty and students.

The classical Appalachian, Caledonian, Hercynian, and Mauritanide orogens are now only segments of a once-continuous Paleozoic mountain belt which has been fragmented during Mesozoic-Cenozoic formation of the North Atlantic Ocean. These segments are major parts of the countries surrounding the North Atlantic - most of which are members of NATO. The aim of this NATO conference was to evaluate these fragments in terms of their pre-Mesozoic positions, and to attempt a synthesis of their geologic evolution on an international and orogen-wide scale. Geologists who have studied these scattered remnants have been separated by both geography and discipline. Orogen-wide syntheses have beeen attempted in the past by individuals who are specialists not only in discipline but also in geography; therefore, these attempts have not been satisfactory to everyone. This conference brought together the foremost specialists in different disciplines from each country. They attempted to teach other specialists, not only in their own fields, but in other disciplines, about regional variations and particular problems. The resulting international cross-fertilization, both within and between speciaLties, enriched individual workers and helped to provide a multi-disciplinary overview of the orogen.

"Inspired by a GSA Penrose Conference held in 2005 (cosponsored by the International Association of Sedimentologists and the British Sedimentological Research Group), the 17 papers in this volume explore sedimentary environments in arc collision zones and their utility in recording the evolution of modern and ancient convergent margins. The first set of papers in the collection focuses on formation and evolution of the sedimentary record in arc settings and arc collision zones, concentrating on modern intra-oceanic examples. Papers include studies of flexural modeling and factors that affect development of siliciclastic and carbonate deposits around modern arcs. The second half of the volume presents new applications of arc sedimentary records. These relate primarily to constraining tectonic events in the evolution of arc systems, but also concern the links among tectonic uplift, collision, and geomorphic and climatic feedback mechanisms in arc collision zones."--Publisher's website.