International Geology Review: South America Spotlight
South America is the fourth-largest continent on Earth, extending from the Gulf of Darién in Panama, through the Andres and the Atacama desert, to the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego in Chile and Argentina. South America has a complex geological history of crust formation, ore formation, volcanism, sedimentation and orogenesis. This history begins with formation of the Amazonian Craton in Archean and Paleoproterozoic time, extensive crust modification in Neoproterozoic time as part of the Gondwana supercontinent, collision with Laurussia in the Late Paleozoic, break-up of western Gondwana to make S. America and the S. Atlantic in Cretaceous time, and subduction of Pacific Ocean lithosphere to make the Andes. This collection of articles from International Geology Review aims to highlight key research addressing the geological evolution of the South American continent.
Edited by
Professor Robert Stern(Department of Geosciences, University of Texas at Dallas)