Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 3 July 1981:
Vol. 213. no. 4503, pp. 41 - 46
DOI: 10.1126/science.213.4503.41
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Ancient Suture Zones Within Continents

E. M. Moores 1

1 Professor of geology at the University of California, Davis 95616

Ancient suture belts within continents are deformed regions which contain the remnants of former ocean basins. They form when two continents or island arcs that earlier were separated by an ocean basin converge and collide during plate tectonic activity. These belts provide the only record we have of deep oceanic crust and of ancient sea-floor processes for the first 94 percent of the earth's history, that is, prior to the oldest preserved crust in the oceans. Ten criteria for the recognition and interpretation of these ancient belts are discussed. A comprehensive program for the study of these belts should have great scientific and economic benefit for the United States and would be relatively cheap compared to other large national scientific efforts.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cr-spinel compositions, metadunite petrology, and the petrotectonic history of Blue Ridge ophiolites, Southern Appalachian Orogen, USA.
L. A. Raymond, S. E. Swanson, A. B. Love, and J. F. Allan (2003)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 218, 253-278
   Abstract »    PDF »
Was the Late Triassic orogeny in Turkey caused by the collision of an oceanic plateau?.
A. I. Okay (2000)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 173, 25-41
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Proterozoic Ophiolite Problem, Continental Emergence, and the Venus Connection.
E. M. Moores and E. M. MOORES (1986)
Science 234, 65-68
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)