Strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: The search for pre-Pangean supercontinents
The observation is made that there are very strong similarities between the supercontinents Columbia, Rodinia and Pangea. If plate tectonics was operating over the past 2.5 billion years of Earth history, and dominated by extroversion and introversion of ocean basins, it would be unusual for three s...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:165441702a9c42d6807da1e3c35b1c17 2023-08-27T04:06:19+02:00 Strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: The search for pre-Pangean supercontinents Joseph G. Meert 2014-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2013.12.001 https://doaj.org/article/165441702a9c42d6807da1e3c35b1c17 EN eng Elsevier http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987113001576 https://doaj.org/toc/1674-9871 1674-9871 doi:10.1016/j.gsf.2013.12.001 https://doaj.org/article/165441702a9c42d6807da1e3c35b1c17 Geoscience Frontiers, Vol 5, Iss 2, Pp 155-166 (2014) Columbia Rodinia Pangea Supercontinent Tectonics Geology QE1-996.5 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2013.12.001 2023-08-06T00:46:39Z The observation is made that there are very strong similarities between the supercontinents Columbia, Rodinia and Pangea. If plate tectonics was operating over the past 2.5 billion years of Earth history, and dominated by extroversion and introversion of ocean basins, it would be unusual for three supercontinents to resemble one another so closely. The term ‘strange attractor’ is applied to landmasses that form a coherent geometry in all three supercontinents. Baltica, Laurentia and Siberia form a group of ‘strange attractors’ as do the elements of East Gondwana (India, Australia, Antarctica, Madagascar). The elements of “West Gondwana” are positioned as a slightly looser amalgam of cratonic blocks in all three supercontinents and are referred to as ‘spiritual interlopers’. Relatively few landmasses (the South China, North China, Kalahari and perhaps Tarim cratons) are positioned in distinct locations within each of the three supercontinents and these are referred to as ‘lonely wanderers’. There may be several explanations for why these supercontinents show such remarkable similarities. One possibility is that modern-style plate tectonics did not begin until the late Neoproterozoic and horizontal motions were restricted and a vertical style of ‘lid tectonics’ dominated. If motions were limited for most of the Proterozoic, it would explain the remarkable similarities seen in the Columbia and Rodinia supercontinents, but would still require the strange attractors to rift, drift and return to approximately the same geometry within Pangea. A second possibility is that our views of older supercontinents are shaped by well-known connections documented for the most recent supercontinent, Pangea. It is intriguing that three of the four ‘lonely wanderers’ (Tarim, North China, South China) did not unite until just before, or slightly after the breakup of Pangea. The fourth ‘lonely wanderer’, the Kalahari (and core Kaapvaal) craton has a somewhat unique Archean-age geology compared to its nearest neighbors in Gondwana, but ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Siberia Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Geoscience Frontiers 5 2 155 166 |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
topic |
Columbia Rodinia Pangea Supercontinent Tectonics Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Columbia Rodinia Pangea Supercontinent Tectonics Geology QE1-996.5 Joseph G. Meert Strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: The search for pre-Pangean supercontinents |
topic_facet |
Columbia Rodinia Pangea Supercontinent Tectonics Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The observation is made that there are very strong similarities between the supercontinents Columbia, Rodinia and Pangea. If plate tectonics was operating over the past 2.5 billion years of Earth history, and dominated by extroversion and introversion of ocean basins, it would be unusual for three supercontinents to resemble one another so closely. The term ‘strange attractor’ is applied to landmasses that form a coherent geometry in all three supercontinents. Baltica, Laurentia and Siberia form a group of ‘strange attractors’ as do the elements of East Gondwana (India, Australia, Antarctica, Madagascar). The elements of “West Gondwana” are positioned as a slightly looser amalgam of cratonic blocks in all three supercontinents and are referred to as ‘spiritual interlopers’. Relatively few landmasses (the South China, North China, Kalahari and perhaps Tarim cratons) are positioned in distinct locations within each of the three supercontinents and these are referred to as ‘lonely wanderers’. There may be several explanations for why these supercontinents show such remarkable similarities. One possibility is that modern-style plate tectonics did not begin until the late Neoproterozoic and horizontal motions were restricted and a vertical style of ‘lid tectonics’ dominated. If motions were limited for most of the Proterozoic, it would explain the remarkable similarities seen in the Columbia and Rodinia supercontinents, but would still require the strange attractors to rift, drift and return to approximately the same geometry within Pangea. A second possibility is that our views of older supercontinents are shaped by well-known connections documented for the most recent supercontinent, Pangea. It is intriguing that three of the four ‘lonely wanderers’ (Tarim, North China, South China) did not unite until just before, or slightly after the breakup of Pangea. The fourth ‘lonely wanderer’, the Kalahari (and core Kaapvaal) craton has a somewhat unique Archean-age geology compared to its nearest neighbors in Gondwana, but ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Joseph G. Meert |
author_facet |
Joseph G. Meert |
author_sort |
Joseph G. Meert |
title |
Strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: The search for pre-Pangean supercontinents |
title_short |
Strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: The search for pre-Pangean supercontinents |
title_full |
Strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: The search for pre-Pangean supercontinents |
title_fullStr |
Strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: The search for pre-Pangean supercontinents |
title_full_unstemmed |
Strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: The search for pre-Pangean supercontinents |
title_sort |
strange attractors, spiritual interlopers and lonely wanderers: the search for pre-pangean supercontinents |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2013.12.001 https://doaj.org/article/165441702a9c42d6807da1e3c35b1c17 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Siberia |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Siberia |
op_source |
Geoscience Frontiers, Vol 5, Iss 2, Pp 155-166 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987113001576 https://doaj.org/toc/1674-9871 1674-9871 doi:10.1016/j.gsf.2013.12.001 https://doaj.org/article/165441702a9c42d6807da1e3c35b1c17 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2013.12.001 |
container_title |
Geoscience Frontiers |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
155 |
op_container_end_page |
166 |
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1775347153253695488 |