Middle Proterozoic To Cambrian Rifting Central North America

Based on the Tenth International Basement Tectonics Conference held at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in August 1992, this volume contains 19 papers, 13 of which focus on the Middle Proterozoic Midcontinent Rift. An introductory essay discussing the Middle Proterozoic to Cambrian rifting in central North America is followed by contributions addressing topics including the Midcontinent Rift in Michigan and Minnesota, the Port Coldwell veins of northern Ontario, and petrography and sedimentation in the western Lake Superior region. The last five papers deal with the pre-Mount Simon basins of Ohio, the English Graben and the newly proposed East Continent Rift Complex, the Reelfoot Rift/Rough Creek Graben in the evolution of the Illinois Basin, and the A-type sheet granites in the Oklahoma Aulacogen of Cambrian age. Bandw illustrations. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Based on the Tenth International Basement Tectonics Conference held at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in August 1992, this volume contains 19 papers, 13 of which focus on the Middle Proterozoic Midcontinent Rift. An introductory essay discussing the Middle Proterozoic to Cambrian rifting in central North America is followed by contributions addressing topics including the Midcontinent Rift in Michigan and Minnesota, the Port Coldwell veins of northern Ontario, and petrography and sedimentation in the western Lake Superior region. The last five papers deal with the pre-Mount Simon basins of Ohio, the English Graben and the newly proposed East Continent Rift Complex, the Reelfoot Rift/Rough Creek Graben in the evolution of the Illinois Basin, and the A-type sheet granites in the Oklahoma Aulacogen of Cambrian age. Bandw illustrations. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Over the past 20 years, the concept of storing or permanently storing carbon dioxide in geological media has gained increasing attention as part of the important technology option of carbon capture and storage within a portfolio of options aimed at reducing anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases to the earths atmosphere. This book is structured into eight parts, and, among other topics, provides an overview of the current status and challenges of the science, regional assessment studies of carbon dioxide geological sequestration potential, and a discussion of the economics and regulatory aspects of carbon dioxide sequestration.

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.

The Middle Proterozoic Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America is a failed rift that formed in response to region-wide stresses about 1,100 Ma. In Iowa, the MRS is buried beneath 2,200-3,500 ft of Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks and Quaternary glaciogenic deposits. An extremely large volume of sediments was deposited within basins associated with the rift at several stages during its development. Although the uplift of a rift-axial horst resulted in the erosional removal of most of these clastic rocks from the central region of the MRS in Iowa, thick sequences are preserved in a series of horst-bounding basins. Recent studies incorporating petrographic analysis, geophysical modeling, and other analytical procedures have led to the establishment of a preliminary stratigraphy for these clastic rocks and interpretations of basin geometries. This information has allowed the refinement of existing theories and history of MRS formation in Iowa. Additionally, drill samples previously interpreted as indicating the existence of early Paleozoic basins overlying the Proterozoic MRS basins were re-examined. Samples previously interpreted as deep-lying Paleozoic rocks are now known to have caved from upper levels of the drillhole and were out of stratigraphic position. No deep Paleozoic basins exist in this area. These investigations led to the development of petrographic parameters useful in differentiating the Proterozoic MRS Red clastics from Paleozoic clastic rocks having similar lithologies.

Computerized modeling is a powerful tool to describe the complex interrelations between measured data and the dynamics of sedimentary systems. Complex interaction of environmental factors with natural variations and increasing anthropogenic intervention is reflected in the sedimentary record at varying scales. The understanding of these processes gives way to the reconstruction of the past and is a key to the prediction of future trends. Especially in cases where observations are limited and/or expensive, computer simulations may substitute for the lack of data. State-of-the-art research work requires a thorough knowledge of processes at the interfaces between atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere, and is therefore an interdisciplinary approach.