The Australide orogen, the southern hemisphere Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic terrane accretionary orogen that forms the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana, is one of the largest and longest-lived orogens on Earth. This book brings together a series of reviews and multidisciplinary research papers that comprehensively cover the Australides from the Tasman orogen of eastern Australia to the Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic orogens of South America, taking in New Zealand and Antarctica along the way. It deals with the evolution of the southern Gondwana margin, as it grew during a series of terrane accretion episodes from the late Proterozoic through to final fragmentation in mid-Cretaceous times. Global perspectives are given by comparison with the Palaeozoic northern Gondwana margin and documentation of world-wide terrane accretion episodes in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous. The Tasmanides of eastern Australia, and the terrane histories of New Zealand and southern South America are given comprehensive up-to-date reviews.

This volume presents a set of research papers that provide new data and interpretations of the Permian–Triassic terranes of SE Gondwana, now exposed in South Island, New Zealand. Following an introduction for general readers, a historical summary and a review of biostratigraphy, the individual papers primarily focus on the Permian magmatic arc of the Brook Street Terrane, the classic Permian Dun Mountain ophiolite and the Permian–Triassic Maitai Group sedimentary succession. The new results emphasize the role of subduction and terrane displacement adjacent to the Permo-Triassic Gondwana margin, and present fundamental insights into three crustal processes: subduction initiation, supra-subduction zone oceanic crust genesis and forearc basin evolution. The volume concludes with a wide-ranging summary and synthesis of the regional Cambrian to Early Cretaceous tectonostratigraphy of New Zealand’s South Island in relation to the wider areas of Zealandia, East Australia and West Antarctica. The volume will interest geoscientists, including stratigraphers, sedimentologists, palaeontologists, igneous petrologists, geochemists, geochronologists and economic geologists, and is aimed at professional geologists and advanced students of geology.

Continental margins and their fossilized analogues are important repositories of natural resources. With better processing techniques and increased availability of high-resolution seismic and potential field data, imaging of present-day continental margins and their embedded sedimentary basins has reached unprecedented levels of refinement and definition, as illustrated by examples described in this volume. This, in turn, has led to greatly improved geological, geodynamic and numerical models for the crustal and mantle processes involved in continental margin formation from the initial stages of rifting through continental rupture and break-up to development of a new ocean basin. Further informing these models, and contributing to a better understanding of the features imaged in the seismic and potential field data, are observations made on fossilized fragments of exhumed subcontinental mantle lithosphere and ocean–continent transition zones preserved in ophiolites and orogenic belts of both Palaeozoic and Mesozoic age from several different continents, including Europe, South Asia and Australasia.

Tectonic plates are constantly moving, either crashing into one another creating a mosaic of mountains and shallow seas, or tearing apart and isolating large swathes of land. In both cases plate tectonics separates populations leading to the evolution of biota. Tectonics is also responsible for the destruction life, for instance when large coral reefs or shallow seas are compressed to form mountain peaks. Could recent research into these processes provide enough evidence to show that tectonics may be the ultimate driver of life on Earth? Our book delves into the current research in tectonics, particularly neotectonics, and its impact on rapid changes on biogeographical classification, also known as bioregionalisation. We also introduce a new term biotectonics that studies the impact of tectonics on biogeoregionalisation. The question we ask is how tectonics directly influences the distribution of biota in four case studies: the Mesozic and early Palaeogene Australides, which spans the Proto-Pacific coast of the South America, Antaractica and Australiasia; and the Neogene of Australia. To conclude we examine the role of neotectonics on tranistion zones and the Amazon Basin and make a case for biotectonic extinction.

The volume highlights developments in our understanding of the palaeogeographical, palaeobiological, palaeoclimatic and cryospheric evolution of Antarctica. It focuses on the sedimentary record from the Devonian to the Quaternary Period. It features tectonic evolution and stratigraphy, as well as processes taking place adjacent to, beneath and beyond the ice-sheet margin, including the continental shelf. The contributions in this volume include several invited review papers, as well as original research papers arising from the International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences in Edinburgh, in July 2011. These papers demonstrate a remarkable diversity of Earth science interests in the Antarctic. Following international trends, there is particular emphasis on the Cenozoic Era, reflecting the increasing emphasis on the documentation and understanding of the past record of ice-sheet fluctuations. Furthermore, Antarctic Earth history is providing us with important information about potential future trends, as the impact of global warming is increasingly felt on the continent and its ocean.

Sediment Provenance: Influences on Compositional Change from Source to Sink provides a thorough and inclusive overview that features data-based case studies on a broad range of dynamic aspects in sedimentary rock structure and deposition. Provenance data plays a critical role in a number of aspects of sedimentary rocks, including the assessment of palaeogeographic reconstructions, the constraints of lateral displacements in orogens, the characterization of crust which is no longer exposed, the mapping of depositional systems, sub-surface correlation, and in predicting reservoir quality. The provenance of fine-grained sediments—on a global scale—has been used to monitor crustal evolution, and sediment transport is paramount in considering restoration techniques for both watershed and river restoration. Transport is responsible for erosion, bank undercutting, sandbar formation, aggradation, gullying, and plugging, as well as bed form migration and generation of primary sedimentary structures. Additionally, the quest for reservoir quality in contemporary hydrocarbon exploration and extraction necessitates a deliberate focus on diagenesis. This book addresses all of these challenges and arms geoscientists with an all-in-one reference to sedimentary rocks, from source to deposition. - Provides the latest data available on various aspects of sedimentary rocks from their source to deposition - Features case studies throughout that illustrate new data and critical analyses of published data by some of the world's most pre-eminent sedimentologists - Includes more than 150 illustrations, photos, figures, and diagrams that underscore key concepts

Antarctica preserves a rock record that spans three and a half billion years of history and has a remarkable story to tell about the evolution of our Earth, from the hottest crustal rocks yet found in an orogenic system, to the assembly and breakup of Gondwana in the Phanerozoic. This volume highlights our improved understanding of the tectonic events that have shaped Antarctica and how these potentially relate to supercontinent assembly and fragmentation. The internal constitution of the East Antarctic Shield is assessed using information available from the basement geology and from detritus preserved as Mesozoic sediments in the Trans Antarctic Mountains. Accretionary orogenesis along the proto-Pacific margin of Antarctica is examined and the volumes of intracrustal melting compared with juvenile magma additions in these complex orogenic systems assessed. This special volume demonstrates the diversity of approaches required to elucidate and understand crustal evolution and evaluate the supercontinent concept.