| Introduction |
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1 | (4) |
| About The Authors |
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5 | (1) |
| Chapter 1 A Hellish Beginning |
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6 | (16) |
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9 | (5) |
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1.1.1 The start of something really big 14 billion years ago |
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9 | (1) |
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1.1.2 From dust to a planet |
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9 | (5) |
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1.2 The Earliest Continents: A Watery Birth |
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14 | (4) |
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1.3 The Birth Of The Archean: A Unique Canadian Record |
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18 | (1) |
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19 | (3) |
| Chapter 2 Moving Earth: Plate Tectonics |
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22 | (38) |
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2.1 Looking Deep Into Planet Earth |
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24 | (5) |
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2.1.1 Crust, mantle and core |
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24 | (3) |
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2.1.2 The Earth stirs and our crust moves |
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27 | (2) |
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2.2 The Formation And Destruction Of Lithospheric Plates |
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29 | (17) |
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2.2.1 Where plates move away from each other: making oceanic crust |
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30 | (6) |
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2.2.2 Where plates collide: the subduction factory |
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36 | (1) |
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2.2.3 Where plates slide past each other: transform boundaries |
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36 | (10) |
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2.2.4 Plate collisions and the building of continents |
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46 | (1) |
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2.3 Volcanic Activity And Plate Tectonics |
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46 | (4) |
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2.3.1 Volcanoes at the edges of plates |
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47 | (2) |
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2.3.2 Volcanoes in the middle of plates: hot spots |
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49 | (1) |
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2.3.3 Under heat and pressure: metamorphic rocks |
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49 | (1) |
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2.4 Plate Tectonics: Is It The Only Model Of How Earth Works? |
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50 | (5) |
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2.4.1 LIPs and MOMO events |
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50 | (2) |
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2.4.2 MOMO events and the history of life |
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52 | (1) |
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52 | (1) |
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2.4.4 Rock stars: the impact of meteorites |
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52 | (3) |
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2.5 Paleomagnetism And Moving Plates |
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55 | (1) |
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2.6 The Rock Cycle And Sedimentary Basins |
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56 | (2) |
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2.7 A Final Comment On Plate Tectonics |
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58 | (2) |
| Chapter 3 THE United Plates Of Canada: 4 Billion Years Of Tectonic Activity |
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60 | (22) |
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3.1 Construction And Break-Up: How Continents Evolve |
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64 | (1) |
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3.2 The Earliest Continents |
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65 | (1) |
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3.3 From Arctica To Nena To Rodinia |
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65 | (1) |
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3.4 The Phanerozoic Evolution Of Canada |
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66 | (14) |
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3.4.1 The beginning of the Paleozoic: the explosion of Rodinia |
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70 | (3) |
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3.4.2 The assembly of Pangea |
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73 | (2) |
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3.4.3 The break-up of Pangea and the westward drift of North America |
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75 | (5) |
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3.5 The Last Few Million Years |
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80 | (2) |
| Chapter 4 Canada's Heartland: The Shield |
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82 | (48) |
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4.1 A Crustal Collage Built By Plate Tectonics |
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85 | (6) |
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4.1.1 Provinces and cratons |
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85 | (6) |
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4.2 The North American Craton vs. The Canadian Shield |
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91 | (9) |
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4.3 History Of The North American Craton: A Tale Of Four Continents (Arctica, Nena, Columbia And Rodinia) |
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100 | (1) |
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4.4 The First North American Continent (c. 2.7 Ga): Arctica |
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101 | (9) |
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4.4.1 Formation of the Slave Province |
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101 | (2) |
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4.4.2 Formation of the Superior Province: the largest piece of the craton |
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103 | (3) |
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4.4.3 The Slave and Superior provinces weld together |
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106 | (1) |
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4.4.4 Glaciation in the Huronian |
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106 | (4) |
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4.5 The Younger North American Continents (c. 2.0 To 1.5 Ga): Nena And Columbia |
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110 | (5) |
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4.5.1 The Trans-Hudson, Thelon, Wopmay and Penokean orogenies |
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110 | (1) |
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4.5.2 The Trans-Hudson Orogeny in eastern Canada |
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111 | (1) |
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4.5.3 The Sudbury structure: a gigantic meteorite strike |
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111 | (4) |
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4.5.4 Nena on the rack: the Midcontinent Rift |
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115 | (1) |
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4.6 The Third North American Continent (c. 1.7 To 1 Ga): Part Of Rodinia |
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115 | (5) |
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4.6.1 The Grenville Province in central Canada |
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117 | (1) |
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4.6.2 The Grenville Province in Eastern Canada |
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118 | (1) |
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4.6.3 Granites and moon rocks of the Grenville Orogen |
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119 | (1) |
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4.7 The End Of Rodinia (I Ga To 600 Ma): Laurentia Breaks Free |
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120 | (2) |
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4.7.1 Disappearing mountains and the formation of the Canadian Shield |
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122 | (1) |
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122 | (8) |
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122 | (1) |
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4.8.2 Prokaryotes: the earliest bacteria |
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123 | (2) |
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4.8.3 The Eukaryotes: building blocks of animals and plants |
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125 | (2) |
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4.8.4 Life diversifies: the Cambrian explosion |
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127 | (3) |
| Chapter 5 Giant Seas Cover the Shield: The Interior Platform |
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130 | (38) |
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132 | (1) |
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132 | (1) |
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5.1.2 The sedimentary cover |
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132 | (1) |
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5.1.3 The idea of "sequences" |
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132 | (1) |
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5.1.4 Sequences in Canada |
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133 | (1) |
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5.2 Earth Processes That Formed The Sequences |
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133 | (8) |
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5.2.1 The puzzles of epeirogeny and eustasy |
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133 | (5) |
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5.2.2 Some events that plate tectonics cannot explain |
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138 | (1) |
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138 | (1) |
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5.2.4 Three surface processes driven by mantle heat |
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139 | (1) |
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5.2.5 How the three processes explain the geology of Canada's interior platform |
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140 | (1) |
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5.3 The Geography Of Giant Seas |
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141 | (9) |
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5.3.1 Thinking about the Bahamas |
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141 | (1) |
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5.3.2 Along the margins of the craton |
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142 | (3) |
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5.3.3 The middle of the craton |
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145 | (4) |
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5.3.4 Something different at Niagara |
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149 | (1) |
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150 | (4) |
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150 | (1) |
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5.4.2 Other Devonian rocks |
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151 | (3) |
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154 | (1) |
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5.6 Orogeny And Transgression In The Cretaceous |
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155 | (6) |
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155 | (2) |
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5.6.2 The highest seas of all time |
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157 | (3) |
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160 | (1) |
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5.7 Marking Time: Global Standard Sections And Points |
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161 | (7) |
| Chapter 6 Building Eastern Canada |
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168 | (64) |
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6.1 Plate Tectonics Began Here |
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170 | (5) |
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6.1.1 The puzzle of the trilobites |
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170 | (1) |
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6.1.2 The modern era begins |
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170 | (5) |
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6.2 Rodinia Breaks Up And The Iapetus Ocean Is Born |
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175 | (2) |
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6.3 The Taconic Orogeny And The Closure Of Iapetus |
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177 | (10) |
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6.3.1 Animal life on the margins of Iapetus |
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185 | (1) |
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6.3.2 The first rumblings of Iapetus closure |
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185 | (2) |
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6.4 A Glimpse Of An Ancient Sea Floor And The Mantle Below |
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187 | (13) |
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188 | (5) |
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6.4.2 Pillows and smokers |
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193 | (7) |
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6.5 The Plate Collision Continues |
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200 | (4) |
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6.5.1 The end of the Taconic |
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201 | (3) |
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6.6 Exotic Fragments Arrive From Europe And Africa |
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204 | (14) |
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6.6.1 The quest for Avalon: looking in Africa |
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208 | (7) |
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6.6.2 Avalon arrives: the Acadian Orogeny |
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215 | (1) |
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216 | (2) |
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6.7 The Final Assembly Of Pangea |
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218 | (8) |
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6.7.1 Alleghenian squeezing |
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218 | (1) |
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219 | (5) |
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6.7.3 In the end lies the beginning |
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224 | (2) |
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6.8 Pangea Breaks Up And The Atlantic Ocean Is Born |
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226 | (6) |
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6.8.1 Foundering in Fundy |
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226 | (1) |
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6.8.2 Hibernia's reservoirs take shape |
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227 | (5) |
| Chapter 7 Building Arctic Canada |
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232 | (36) |
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7.1 Exploring By Sea And By Air |
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234 | (3) |
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237 | (4) |
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7.2.1 The Canadian Shield |
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237 | (1) |
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7.2.2 The Arctic platform |
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238 | (1) |
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7.2.3 The Franklinian basin |
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238 | (1) |
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239 | (1) |
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7.2.5 Arctic coastal plain |
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240 | (1) |
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7.3 Early Paleozoic Evolution Of The Franklinian Basin And Pearya |
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241 | (7) |
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7.4 Tectonism And Sedimentation In The Siluro-Devonian: The End Of The Franklinian Basin |
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248 | (7) |
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7.5 The Sverdrup Basin 1: Upper Paleozoic |
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255 | (2) |
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7.6 The Sverdrup Basin 2: The Mesozoic |
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257 | (5) |
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7.7 The Final Phase: Greenland's Brief Life As A Separate Plate |
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262 | (5) |
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7.8 The Island Topography Evolves |
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267 | (1) |
| Chapter 8 Building Western Canada |
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268 | (54) |
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271 | (1) |
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8.1.1 Horses, Helicopters And Terranes |
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271 | (1) |
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8.2 Small Bugs But Big Clues: Signposts To Western Canada's Origins |
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272 | (4) |
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8.2.1 Wrangellia: a far-travelled terrane |
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272 | (2) |
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8.2.2 The Cordillera as collage of terranes |
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274 | (2) |
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8.3 Pangea Breaks Up And Western North America Scoops Up Terranes |
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276 | (2) |
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8.4 Anatomy And Growth Of The Canadian Cordillera |
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278 | (10) |
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8.4.1 Foreland Belt and Omineca Belt |
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278 | (4) |
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282 | (6) |
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8.5 The Insular Belt And Coast Belt |
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288 | (9) |
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8.5.1 Arriving today...the Yakutat terrane |
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297 | (1) |
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8.6 The Importance Of Strike-Slip Faulting |
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297 | (6) |
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8.7 Volcanoes In Western Canada: Legacy Of An Active Plate Margin |
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303 | (3) |
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306 | (7) |
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8.8.1 Up and down, but also sideways: the key to the Rocky Mountains |
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306 | (2) |
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8.8.2 Mountains and Prairie are inextricably linked |
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308 | (3) |
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8.8.3 The development of the fold-thrust belt |
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311 | (2) |
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8.9 The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin |
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313 | (6) |
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8.9.1 Patterns of sedimentation |
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316 | (1) |
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8.9.2 Cycles of sedimentation |
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316 | (2) |
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8.9.3 The sculpting of the modern Foothills and Prairies |
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318 | (1) |
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8.10 The Rockies And The Basin "North Of 60" |
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319 | (3) |
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8.10.1 The Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin |
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320 | (2) |
| Chapter 9 Cool Times: The Ice Sheets Arrive |
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322 | (60) |
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9.1 Frozen History: Canada's Glacial Heritage |
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324 | (3) |
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9.1.1 What exactly is a glacier? |
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325 | (1) |
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9.1.2 Erratics: wandering boulders |
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326 | (1) |
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9.2 Continental Ice Sheets: The Discovery Of Ice Ages |
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327 | (5) |
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9.2.1 Louis Agassiz's "great plough" |
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328 | (2) |
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9.2.2 John William Dawson and icebergs |
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330 | (1) |
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9.2.3 Joseph B. Tyrrell and the great Canadian ice sheet |
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331 | (1) |
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332 | (12) |
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9.3.1 Plate tectonics and the onset of global cooling after 55 Ma |
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332 | (3) |
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9.3.2 The deep freeze comes to Canada (c. 3 Ma) |
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335 | (8) |
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9.3.3 The deep sea record of climate: astronomical controls on ice ages |
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343 | (1) |
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9.4 Timesl(Ice)s Of The Last (Laurentide) Ice Sheet |
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344 | (23) |
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9.4.1 The ice sheet start to grow (110 ka) |
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344 | (3) |
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9.4.2 The ice sheet reaches its maximum size (c. 20 ka) |
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347 | (5) |
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9.4.3 The ice sheet melts: the Holocene begins (10 ka) |
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352 | (12) |
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9.4.4 The answer to the climate puzzle could lie in space |
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364 | (3) |
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9.5 Glacial Landforms And Landscapes In Canada |
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367 | (15) |
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368 | (3) |
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9.5.2 The plains of western and central Canada |
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371 | (6) |
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377 | (1) |
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9.5.4 The offshore record |
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377 | (1) |
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9.5.5 Cool times ahead: the glaciers will return |
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377 | (5) |
| Chapter 10 Rocky Resources: Mining In Canada |
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382 | (56) |
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10.1 About 11,000 Years Ago: Canada's First Mines |
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384 | (1) |
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10.2 1000 CE, The Europeans Arrive |
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384 | (6) |
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10.3 Mid 1800s:the Birth Of The Modern Mining Industry |
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390 | (2) |
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10.3.1 Going underground: the first hard rock mines |
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392 | (1) |
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10.4 Late 1800s: Railways And Mining |
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392 | (2) |
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10.4.1 Sudbury copper and nickel |
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392 | (1) |
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392 | (2) |
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10.5 Gold In Western Canada |
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394 | (4) |
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394 | (2) |
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10.5.2 The 1858 gold rush and the Province of British Columbia |
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396 | (1) |
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10.5.3 The 1896 gold rush in the Yukon Territory |
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396 | (2) |
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398 | (5) |
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398 | (1) |
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10.6.2 Labrador: the iron centre of Canada |
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399 | (1) |
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10.6.3 Bell Island, Newfoundland: mining ironstone under the sea |
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399 | (4) |
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403 | (1) |
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10.7.1 Voisey's Bay, Labrador |
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403 | (1) |
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10.8 Diamonds: Facets Of A New Industry |
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403 | (4) |
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10.8.1 North America's first diamond (1843) |
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405 | (1) |
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10.8.2 Recent discoveries |
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406 | (1) |
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10.9 Mining Ancient Ocean Floors: Importance Of Hydrothermal Alteration |
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407 | (7) |
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10.9.1 Volcanogenic massive sulphides of the Archean |
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412 | (1) |
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10.9.2 VMS deposits of the Ordovician Iapetus Ocean |
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413 | (1) |
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10.9.3 Cretaceous VMS deposits of British Columbia |
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414 | (1) |
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10.9.4 Hydrothermal lode gold |
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414 | (1) |
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10.9.5 Water under the volcano: porphyry deposits |
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414 | (1) |
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414 | (1) |
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10.11 Deep Weathering And Mineral Deposits In Canada |
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414 | (1) |
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414 | (4) |
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418 | (15) |
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10.13.1 The international oil industry begins (1858) |
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421 | (1) |
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10.13.2 Canada's modern oil industry |
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421 | (8) |
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10.13.3 Canada's natural gas industry |
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429 | (2) |
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431 | (2) |
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10.13.5 Gas hydrates: energy from ice |
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433 | (1) |
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10.13.6 Conclusions: the future of fossil fuels |
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433 | (1) |
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433 | (2) |
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435 | (1) |
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435 | (3) |
| Chapter 11 Challenges For The Future |
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438 | (46) |
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11.1 From Geology To Geoscience |
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440 | (1) |
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11.2 Water Resources And Their Protection |
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440 | (18) |
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11.2.1 Urban development and water |
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442 | (2) |
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444 | (2) |
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11.2.3 Cleaning up our mess |
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446 | (3) |
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449 | (9) |
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11.3 The Tectonic Threat: Earthquakes |
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458 | (3) |
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11.3.1 Seismic zones in Canada |
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459 | (2) |
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461 | (3) |
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461 | (3) |
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464 | (17) |
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11.5.1 The climate change debate |
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465 | (13) |
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11.5.2 Living with changing climate: permafrost in Canada's North |
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478 | (2) |
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11.5.3 Canada's Arctic challenge |
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480 | (1) |
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11.5.4 Ice shelf disintegration on Ellesmere Island: signs of a climatic crisis? |
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480 | (1) |
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11.6 Geology And Our Health |
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481 | (1) |
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11.7 The Challenge Of Data Gaps |
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482 | (2) |
| Chapter 12 Geology And The Building Of A Canadian Identity |
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484 | (9) |
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12.1 Geology Gains Momentum |
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488 | (5) |
| Glossary |
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493 | (19) |
| Sources For Illustrations |
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512 | (2) |
| References |
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514 | (5) |
| Index |
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519 | |
