Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

Front Cover; Earth as an Evolving Planetary System; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Chapter 1: Earth as a Planetary System; Introduction; Structure of Earth; Plate Tectonics; Is the Earth Unique?; Interacting Earth Subsystems; Great Events in Earth History; Further Reading; Chapter 2: The Crust; Introduction; Seismic Crustal Structure; The Moho; Crustal Layers; Crustal Types; Oceanic Crust; Seismic Features; Ocean Ridges; Ocean Basins; Volcanic Islands; Trenches; Back-Arc Basins; Transitional Crust; Oceanic Plateaus; Arcs; Continental Rifts; Inland-Sea Basins; Continental Crust.

Shields and PlatformsOrogens; Continent Size; Heat Flow and Heat Production; Heat-Flow Distribution; Heat Production and Heat Flow in the Continents; Age Dependence of Heat Flow; Exhumation and Cratonization; Introduction; Unraveling Pressure-Temperature-Time Histories; Some Typical P-T-t Paths; Cratonization; Processes in the Continental Crust; Rheology; Role of Fluids and Crustal Melts; Crustal Composition; Approaches; Seismic Wave Velocities; Seismic Reflections in the Continental Crust; Sampling of Precambrian Shields; Fine-grained Detrital Sediments; Exhumed Crustal Blocks.

Crustal XenolithsEstimate of Crustal Composition; Continental Crust; Oceanic Crust; Complementary Compositions of Continental and Oceanic Crust; Crustal Provinces and Terranes; Crustal Province and Terrane Boundaries; The United Plates of America; Further Reading; Chapter 3: Tectonic Settings; Introduction; Ocean Ridges; Ocean Ridge Basalts; Ophiolites; General Features; Tectonic Setting and Emplacement; Ophiolite Production; Precambrian Ophiolites; Tectonic Settings Related to Mantle Plumes; Large Igneous Provinces; Oceanic Plateaus and Aseismic Ridges; Rifted Continental Margins.

Continental Flood BasaltsHotspot Volcanic Islands; Giant Mafic Dyke Swarms; Continental Rifts; General Features; Rock Assemblages; Rift Development and Evolution; Cratons and Passive Margins; Convergent Margins; Subduction-Related Rock Assemblages; Trenches; Accretionary Prisms; Forearc Basins; Arcs; Back-Arc Basins; Remnant Arcs; Retroarc Foreland Basins; Arc Processes; Flat Slab Subduction; Convergent Margin Metamorphism; Arc Magmas; Compositional Variation of Arc Magmas; Orogens; Three Types of Orogens; Collisional Orogens; Accretionary Orogens; Intracratonic Orogens.

Temperature-Magnitude ClassificationOrogenic Rock Assemblages; Tectonic Elements of Collisional Orogens; Sutures; Foreland and Hinterland Basins; The Himalayas; Uncertain Tectonic Settings; Anorogenic Granites; General Features; Associated Anorthosites; Tectonic Setting; Archean Greenstones and Granitoids; General Features; Greenstone Volcanics; Greenstone Sediments; Granitoids; Greenstone Tectonic Settings; Mineral and Energy Deposits; Introduction; Mineral Deposits; Ocean Ridges; Arc Systems; Orogens; Continental Rifts and LIPs; Cratons and Passive Margins; Archean Greenstones.