EESA06H3 Lecture 10: Lecture 10 (Canada's Geologic Journey)
Document Summary
Terms to remember supercontinent cycle (500 million years long): a paradigm" or tool kit" to examine earth history. Think of the supercontinent cycle as a diagnostic tool kit for examining history. New ocean basins being formed but they have a finite lifetime because those continents come back together. Continents will grow because they will secrete -> former crust from dead oceans. A lot of continental crust is made up of oceanic crust. To form granite, we need to melt basalt (oceanic crust) in the presence of water. Key concepts to the very first continents craton and cratonization (process by which continents grow) New crust that has been added is called province province (old crust now embedded in continents) Each province has different rocks terranes (another term for above) Terrane: block of crust that has come from some place else and is added to a continent. North american continent is made mostly of far travelled terranes.
