Introduction |
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1 | (4) |
About the Authors |
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5 | (1) |
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6 | (16) |
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9 | (5) |
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The start of something really big 14 billion years ago |
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9 | (1) |
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9 | (5) |
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The Earliest Continents: A Watery Birth |
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14 | (4) |
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The Birth of the Archean: A Unique Canadian Record |
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18 | (1) |
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18 | (4) |
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Moving Earth: Plate Tectonics |
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22 | (38) |
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Looking Deep into Planet Earth |
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24 | (3) |
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24 | (3) |
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The Earth stirs and our crust moves |
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27 | (1) |
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The Formation and Destruction of Lithospheric Plates |
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27 | (19) |
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Where plates move away from each other: making oceanic crust |
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30 | (5) |
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Where plates collide: the subduction factory |
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35 | (1) |
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Where plates slide past each other: transform boundaries |
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36 | (1) |
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Plate collisions and the building of continents |
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36 | (10) |
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Volcanic Activity and Plate Tectonics |
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46 | (4) |
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Volcanoes at the edges of plates |
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46 | (2) |
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Volcanoes in the middle of plates: hot spots |
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48 | (1) |
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Under heat and pressure: metamorphic rocks |
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49 | (1) |
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Plate Tectonics: Is It the Only Model of How Earth Works? |
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50 | (3) |
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51 | (1) |
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MOMO events and the history of life |
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52 | (1) |
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52 | (1) |
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Rock stars: the impact of meteorites |
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52 | (1) |
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Paleomagnetism and Moving Plates |
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53 | (3) |
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The Rock Cycle and Sedimentary Basins |
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56 | (1) |
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A Final Comment on Plate Tectonics |
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57 | (3) |
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The United Plates of Canada: 4 Billion Years of Tectonic Activity |
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60 | (18) |
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Construction and Break-Up: How Continents Evolve |
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64 | (1) |
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65 | (1) |
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From Arctic a to Nena to Rodinia |
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66 | (1) |
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The Beginning of the Paleozoic: The Explosion of Rodinia |
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66 | (3) |
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69 | (2) |
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The Break-Up of Pangea and the Westward Drift of North America |
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71 | (5) |
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The Last Few Million Years |
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76 | (2) |
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Canada's Heartland: The Shield |
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78 | (46) |
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A Crustal Collage Built By Plate Tectonics |
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81 | (6) |
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81 | (6) |
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The North American Craton vs. the Canadian Shield |
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87 | (9) |
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History of the North American Craton: A Tale of Four Continents (Arctica, Nena, Columbia and Rodinia) |
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96 | (1) |
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The First North American Continent (c. 2.7 Ga): Arctica |
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96 | (10) |
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Formation of the Slave Province |
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97 | (2) |
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Formation of the Superior Province: the largest piece of the craton |
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99 | (1) |
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The Slave and Superior provinces weld together |
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99 | (3) |
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Glaciation in the Huronian |
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102 | (4) |
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The Younger North American Continents (c. 2.0 to 1.5 Ga): Nena and Columbia |
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106 | (5) |
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The Trans-Hudson, Thelon, Wopmay and Penokean orogenies |
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106 | (1) |
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The Trans-Hudson Orogeny in eastern Canada |
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107 | (1) |
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The Sudbury structure: a gigantic meteorite strike |
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108 | (3) |
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Nena on the rack: the Midcontinent Rift |
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111 | (1) |
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The Third North American Continent (c. 1.7 to 1 Ga): Part of Rodinia |
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111 | (6) |
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The Grenville Province in central Canada |
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112 | (2) |
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The Grenville Province in Eastern Canada |
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114 | (1) |
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Granites and moon rocks of the Grenville Orogen |
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114 | (3) |
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The End of Rodinia (1 Ga to 600 Ma): Laurentia Breaks Free |
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117 | (2) |
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Disappearing mountains and the formation of the Canadian Shield |
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119 | (1) |
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119 | (5) |
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120 | (1) |
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Prokaryotes: the earliest bacteria |
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121 | (1) |
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The Eukaryotes: building blocks of animals and plants |
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121 | (1) |
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Life diversifies: the Cambrian explosion |
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121 | (3) |
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Giant Seas Cover the Shield: The Interior Platform |
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124 | (38) |
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126 | (1) |
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126 | (1) |
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126 | (1) |
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The idea of ``sequences'' |
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126 | (1) |
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127 | (1) |
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Earth Processes That Formed the Sequences |
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127 | (8) |
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The puzzles of epeirogeny and eustasy |
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127 | (5) |
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Some events that plate tectonics cannot explain |
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132 | (1) |
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132 | (1) |
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Three surface processes driven by mantle heat |
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133 | (1) |
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How the three processes explain the geology of Canada's interior platform |
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134 | (1) |
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The Geography of Giant Seas |
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135 | (8) |
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Thinking about the Bahamas |
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135 | (1) |
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Along the margins of the craton |
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135 | (4) |
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139 | (3) |
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Something different at Niagara |
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142 | (1) |
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143 | (3) |
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143 | (2) |
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145 | (1) |
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146 | (2) |
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Orogeny and Transgression in the Cretaceous |
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148 | (6) |
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148 | (3) |
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The highest seas of all time |
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151 | (1) |
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151 | (3) |
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Marking Time: Global Standard Sections and Points |
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154 | (8) |
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162 | (64) |
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Plate Tectonics Began Here |
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164 | (5) |
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The puzzle of the trilobites |
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164 | (3) |
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167 | (2) |
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Rodinia Breaks Up and the Iapetus Ocean is Born |
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169 | (2) |
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The Taconic Orogeny and the Closure of Iapetus |
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171 | (9) |
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Animal life on the margins of Iapetus |
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174 | (5) |
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The first rumblings of Iapetus closure |
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179 | (1) |
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A Glimpse of an Ancient Sea Floor and the Mantle Below |
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180 | (14) |
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182 | (5) |
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187 | (7) |
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The Plate Collision Continues |
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194 | (3) |
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195 | (2) |
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Exotic Fragments Arrive from Europe and Africa |
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197 | (13) |
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The quest for Avalon: looking in Africa |
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202 | (4) |
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Avalon arrives: the Acadian Orogeny |
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206 | (3) |
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209 | (1) |
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The Final Assembly of Pangea |
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210 | (6) |
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210 | (2) |
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212 | (1) |
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In the end lies the beginning |
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213 | (3) |
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Pangea Breaks Up and the Atlantic Ocean is Born |
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216 | (10) |
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216 | (4) |
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Hibernia's reservoirs take shape |
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220 | (6) |
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226 | (36) |
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Exploring by Sea and By Air |
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228 | (3) |
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231 | (4) |
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231 | (1) |
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232 | (1) |
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232 | (1) |
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233 | (2) |
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235 | (1) |
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Early Paleozoic Evolution of the Franklinian Basin and Pearya |
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235 | (7) |
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Tectonism and Sedimentation in the Siluro-Devonian: The End of the Franklinian Basin |
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242 | (7) |
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The Sverdrup Basin 1: Upper Paleozoic |
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249 | (2) |
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The Sverdrup Basin 2: The Mesozoic |
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251 | (5) |
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The Final Phase: Greenland's Brief Life as a Separate Plate |
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256 | (5) |
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The Island Topography Evolves |
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261 | (1) |
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262 | (54) |
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265 | (1) |
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Horses, helicopters and terranes |
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265 | (1) |
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Small Bugs But Big Clues: Signposts to Western Canada's Origins |
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266 | (4) |
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Wrangellia: a far travelled terrane |
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266 | (1) |
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The Cordillera as collage of terranes |
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267 | (3) |
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Pangea Breaks Up and Western North America Scoops Up Terranes |
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270 | (1) |
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Anatomy and Growth of the Canadian Cordillera |
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271 | (10) |
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Foreland Belt and Omineca Belt |
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272 | (4) |
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276 | (5) |
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The Insular Belt and Coast Belt |
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281 | (10) |
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Arriving today . . . the Yakutat terrane |
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289 | (2) |
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The Importance of Strike-Slip Faulting |
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291 | (3) |
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Volcanoes in Western Canada: Legacy of an Active Plate Margin |
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294 | (6) |
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300 | (7) |
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Up and down; but also sideways; the key to the Rocky Mountains |
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300 | (2) |
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Mountains and Prairie are inextricably linked |
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302 | (3) |
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The development of the fold-thrust belt |
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305 | (2) |
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The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin |
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307 | (6) |
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Patterns of sedimentation |
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310 | (1) |
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310 | (2) |
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The sculpting of the modern Foothills and Prairies |
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312 | (1) |
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The Rockies and the Basin ``North of 60'' |
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313 | (3) |
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The Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin |
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314 | (2) |
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Cool Times: The Ice Sheets Arrive |
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316 | (56) |
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Frozen History: Canada's Glacial Heritage |
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318 | (6) |
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What exactly is a glacier? |
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320 | (4) |
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Erratics: wandering boulders |
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324 | (1) |
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Continental Ice Sheets: The Discovery of Ice Ages |
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324 | (5) |
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Louis Agassiz's ``great plough'' |
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324 | (2) |
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John William Dawson and icebergs |
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326 | (1) |
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Joseph B. Tyrrell and the great Canadian ice sheet |
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327 | (2) |
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329 | (11) |
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Plate tectonics and the start of global cooling after 55 Ma |
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329 | (4) |
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The deep freeze comes to Canada (c. 3 Ma) |
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333 | (5) |
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The deep sea record of climate: astronomical controls on ice ages |
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338 | (2) |
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Timesl(Ice)s of the Last (Laurentide) Ice Sheet |
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340 | (20) |
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The ice sheet start to grow (110 ka) |
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341 | (4) |
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The ice sheet reaches its maximum size (20 ka) |
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345 | (8) |
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The ice sheet melts: the Holocene begins (10 ka) |
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353 | (6) |
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The answer to the climate puzzle may lie in space |
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359 | (1) |
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360 | (1) |
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Glacial Landforms and Landscapes in Canada |
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360 | (12) |
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363 | (2) |
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The plains of western and central Canada |
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365 | (2) |
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367 | (2) |
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369 | (3) |
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Rocky Resources: Mining in Canada |
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372 | (54) |
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About 11,000 Years Ago: Canada's First Mines |
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374 | (1) |
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1000 Ce, The Europeans Arrive |
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374 | (6) |
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Mid 1800s: The Birth of the Modern Mining Industry |
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380 | (5) |
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Going Underground: The First Hard Rock Mines |
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383 | (2) |
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Late 1800s: Railways and Mining |
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385 | (6) |
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Sudbury copper and nickel |
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385 | (1) |
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386 | (5) |
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391 | (8) |
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391 | (3) |
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The 1858 gold rush and the Province of British Columbia |
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394 | (1) |
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The 1896 gold rush in the Yukon Territory |
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395 | (4) |
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399 | (4) |
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399 | (2) |
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Labrador: the iron centre of Canada |
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401 | (2) |
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Bell Island, Newfoundland: mining ironstone under the sea |
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403 | (1) |
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403 | (1) |
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403 | (1) |
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Diamonds: Facets of a New Industry |
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404 | (5) |
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North America's first diamond (1843) |
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404 | (3) |
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407 | (2) |
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Mining Ancient Ocean Floors: The Importance of Hydrothermal Alteration |
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409 | (8) |
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Volcanogenic massive sulphides of the Archean |
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412 | (1) |
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VMS deposits of the Ordovician Iapetus Ocean |
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413 | (4) |
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Cretaceous VMS deposits of British Columbia |
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417 | (1) |
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417 | (1) |
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Water under the volcano: porphyry deposits |
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417 | (1) |
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417 | (1) |
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Deep Weathering and Mineral Deposits in Canada |
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417 | (1) |
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418 | (1) |
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419 | (4) |
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The international oil industry begins (1858) |
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419 | (2) |
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Mining for oil: Canada's Tar Sands industry |
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421 | (1) |
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422 | (1) |
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Gas hydrates: energy from ice |
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423 | (1) |
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423 | (1) |
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423 | (1) |
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424 | (1) |
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424 | (1) |
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425 | (1) |
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Challenges for the Future |
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426 | (40) |
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From Geology to Geoscience |
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428 | (1) |
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Water Resources and Their Protection |
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428 | (17) |
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Urban development and water |
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429 | (5) |
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434 | (3) |
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437 | (8) |
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The Tectonic Threat: Earthquakes |
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445 | (6) |
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446 | (5) |
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451 | (4) |
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452 | (3) |
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455 | (9) |
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The climate-change debate |
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455 | (5) |
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Living with changing climate: permafrost in Canada's far north |
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460 | (1) |
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Canada's Arctic challenge |
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461 | (1) |
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Ice shelf disintegration on Ellesmere Island: signs of a climatic crisis? |
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462 | (2) |
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464 | (2) |
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Geology and the Building of a Canadian Identity |
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466 | (9) |
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470 | (5) |
Glossary |
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475 | (18) |
Source of Illustrations |
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493 | (2) |
References |
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495 | (8) |
Index |
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503 | |