The Proto-Andean Margin of Gondwana - Geological Society Special Publication No. 142

London: The Geological Society, 1998. The Palaeozoic geological history of western South America has been the focus of intense international interest in the last few years. This book brings together multidisciplinary research and review papers on the Lower Palaeozoic geology of the Sierras Pampeanas and the Precordillera of central west Argentina. It deals with the final stages of assembly of the supercontinent of Gondwana and a period of tectonic interaction with Laurentia (the North American continent of today). The evidence for the growth of this part of the margin of Gondwana from late Neoproterozoic times is presented in terms of stratigraphy, palaeontology, igneous petrology, geochemistry and geochronology, and rival tectonic hypothesis are critically compared. At least two episodes of subduction-related marginal basin closure and terrane accretion are documented and re-assessed. Contents: Introduction • Stratigraphical evidence supporting the rifting, drifting and collision of the Laurentian Precordillera Terrane of western Argentina • The stratigraphical record of the Argentine Precordillera and its plate-tectonic background • Early Palaeozoic brachiopods and associated shelly faunas from western Gondwana: their bearing on the geodynamic history of the pre-Andean margin • The Argentine Precordillera: its odyssey from the Laurentian Ouachita margin towards the Sierras Pampeanas of Gondwana • Ordovician K-bentonites in the Argentine Precordillera: relations to Gondwana margin evolution • The geochemistry and provenance of Ordovician turbidites in the Argentine Puna • Time constraints in the Early Palaeozoic docking of the Precordillera, central Argentina • A Laurentian? Grenville- age oceanic arc/back-arc terrane in the Sierra de Pie de Palo, western Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina • The Pampean Orogeny of the southern proto-Andes: Cambrian continental collision in the Sierras de Córdoba • Laurentia-Gondwana collision: the origin of the Famatinian-Appalachian orogenic belt (a review) • Structural evolution of the Sierra de San Luis (eastern Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina): implications for the proto-Andean margin of Gondwana • U-Pb, Th-Pb and Ar-Ar geochronology from the southern Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina: implications for the Palaeozoic tectonic evolution of the western Gondwana margin • The Early Palaeozoic magmatic record of the Famatina System: a review • Geology of the Sierra de Fiambalá, northwest Argentina: implications for Early Palaeozoic Andean tectonics • The granitoids of the Sierra de San Luis • The Famatinian magmatic arc in the central Sierras PampeanasPrincipal AuthorsR. J. Pankhurst (British Antarctic Survey, UK)R. A. Astini (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina)M. Keller (Universität Erlangen, Germany)J. L. Benedetto (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina)P. Wood Dickerson (NASA / Lockheed, USA)W. D. Huff (University of Cincinnati, USA)H. Bahlburg (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Germany)V. A. Ramos (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)G. I. Vujovich (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)C. W. Rapela (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina)L. H. Dalla Salda (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina)W. von Gosen (Universität Erlangen, Germany)J. P. Sims (Australian Geological Survey Organisation, Australia)J. Saavedra (Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología, Spain)S. M. DeBari (Western Washington University, USA)E. J. Llambías (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina). 384 pages, sventeen chapters, illustrated with 165 figures, introductory overview plus index. Hard back edition,Laminated boards, no dustwrapper as issued, 7 X 10 inches. Near fine condition.. First Edition.