EESA06H3 Final: EESA06 Final Exam Ch20 Summary + 40 MCQ/T or F
19 Apr 2012
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Document Summary
Canada"s lengthy geologic history began more than 4 billion years ago, when the north american craton began to form. Many separate land masses were fused together by plate tectonics processes over several billion years to create a craton consisting of geologically distinct provinces. Deformed rocks of the craton identify areas where land masses were sutured together, and are termed orogens. These ancient rocks of north america record repeated episodes of supercontinent formation and breakup and are exposed on the canadian shield. The outermost margins of the north american craton have been buried by younger cover rocks. These sedimentary rocks were deposited in extensive shallow seas (intracratonic and foreland basins) that covered parts of the craton when it was depressed by the weight of developing mountain ranges. Most of atlantic canada originated as parts of other continents that were accreted onto the eastern seaboard of north america through repeated opening and closing of ancestral forms of the atlantic ocean.
