Geoscience Canada

Volume 7, Number 4 (1980)
Articles

Proterozoic Sutures in Canada

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  • R. A. Gibb,
  • M. D. Thomas,
  • M. Mukhopadhyay
R. A. Gibb
Earth Physics Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Ontario.
M. D. Thomas
Earth Physics Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Ontario.
M. Mukhopadhyay
Earth Physics Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Ontario.

Published 1980-11-11

How to Cite

Gibb, R. A., Thomas, M. D., & Mukhopadhyay, M. (1980). Proterozoic Sutures in Canada. Geoscience Canada, 7(4). Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/3228
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Abstract

Geophysicists generally agree that one ormore supercontinents were in motion during the Proterozoic. A more controversial issue is whether these supercontinents were at times internally fragmented into smaller crustal units that subsequently collided and sutured in the manner of Phanerozoic plates. Several sutures or join lines between collided continental fragments have been proposed in the Canadian Shield. These are all of Proterozoic age although several authors have suggested that some form of primitive plate tectonics was operative in the formation of Archean crust of the Superior province. A wide variety of geological and geophysical evidence has been advanced in support of the proposed sutures. Viewed collectively, the evidence makes a convincing argument for plate tectonics in the Proterozoic. However, it appears that conclusive evidence for relative motions between units of the Shield in this period will be forthcoming only from more precise paleomagnetic and geochronologic studies of critical rocks
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