Volume 9, Number 1 (1982)
Articles

One Hundred Million Years of Plate Tectonics in Western Canada

R. P. Riddihough
Earth Physics Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Pacific Geoscience Centre, Sidney, B.C.

Published 1982-03-03

How to Cite

Riddihough, R. P. (1982). One Hundred Million Years of Plate Tectonics in Western Canada. Geoscience Canada, 9(1). Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/3281

Abstract

New concepts of western Cordilleran geology involve the assembly of exotic blocks of crust through large northward movements and strike-slip faulting. These can only be valid if the regional plate tectonic framework provides a suitable mechanism. The geometrical reconstruction of global plate motions shows that throughout the last 100 Ma, plate movements along the western margin have been appropriate. Movement has been northward relative to North America at high rates and has alternated between convergence and north-westerly strike-slip faulting. Local details must be compatible but cannot be resolved by such broad reconstructions.