Climate and Hydrology in Mountain Areas

This book has grown and evolved from a course I teachat New Mexico Tech, which is taken chiefly by seniorsand graduate students in the Earth Sciences. The rapidaccumulation of data on plate tectonics, mantle evolution,and the origin of continents in the last decade has necessitated continued updating of the course. The bookis written for an advanced undergraduate or graduatestudent, and it assumes a basic knowledge of geology,biology, chemistry, and physics that most students in the Earth Sciences acquire during their undergraduate education.It also may serve as a reference book for variousspecialists in the geological sciences who want to keep abreast of scientific advances in this field. I have attempted to synthesize and digest data from the Helds of oceanography, geophysics, geology, planetology, and geochemistry, and (o present this information in a systematic manner, addressing problems related to the evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle over the last 4 Gy. The role of plate tectonics in the geological past is examined in the light of geologic evidence, and examples of plate reconstructions arc discussed. Since the third edition was published a wealth of information on plate tectonics, mantle structure, and continental origin and evolution has appeared in scientificjournals. As with the third edition, to accommodate this new information, it was necessary to rewrite more than seventy-five per cent of the text and add a large number of new figures. Major additions and/or revisions in the fourth edition occur for such topics as mantle plumes, seismic discontinuities in the mantle, supercontinents, interactions between Earth systems, atmosphere and ocean evolution, episodisity of orogeny and continental growth, and planetary origin. In order to better to accommodate new results and ideas,some topics have been eliminated from the third edition(for instance, most of the material on methodology inthe third edition Chapter 1), and many new topics have been added. Also, the book has been completely reorganizedand now all planetary topics occur in the last chapter. In Chapter 1 it is assumed that the reader is familiar with the basic tenets of plate tectonics and hence, rather than gloss over all topics related to plate tectonics in a cursory manner, selected topics are discussed in detail. Major topics include plate boundaries, platemotions, hotspots, geomagnetism, Earth systems, and supercontinents. In Chapter 2, geologic and geophysical properties of crustal types are reviewed, heat flow, exhumation, cratonization, and crustal composition are discussed in detail, and the concept of crustal provinces and terranes is introduced. Chapter 3 on Tectonic settings follows the same format as the tectonic setting chapter in the third edition. New tectonic settings are added (giant dyke swarms, submarine plateaux) and collisional orogens arc discussed in greater depth. Because the Precambrian chapter is eliminated in the fourth edition, uncertain tectonic settings found in the Precambrian (Archean greenstones, anorogenic granites) are included in Chapter 3. Chapter 4, The Earth's mantle and core, has been significantly revised and enlarged from our rapidly increasing data base from seismic tomography,high pressure experimental data, and computer modelling. New topics are mantle plumes, and geochemical domains in the mantle, and the discussions of mantle convection, seismic discontinuities,and mantle composition are significantly revised and updated. The discussion of the core is also completely revised. In Chapter 5 both crustal and mantie evolution are discussed, with emphasis on the interaction between the two systems. New sections include the Earth's oldest rocks, plate tectonics with time, and Archean plate tectonics. In addition, the sections on episodic age distribution, continental growth rate, and secular changes in composition of the crust-mantle system have been significantly revised in the light of new data and models. Because of the wealth of information on the origin and interaction of the atmosphere, ocean, and living systems, Chapter 6 is almost twice the size of the other chapters. All topics are revised in this chapter and new topics are added on Phanerozoic atmospheric history, carbon