Gerald M. Friedman

Steep crystalline-basement faults, commonly indicated by potential-field anomalies, played a crucial role in evolution of continental cratonic platforms. In the Phanerozoic Western Canada Sedimentary Province, history of crustal block movements and warps is reconstructed from the distribution of depocenters, lithofacies and structures in structural-formational étages in sedimentary cover. Each étage is a rock succession formed during a particular tectonic stage; regional tectonic restructuring closes each stage, and the next stage represents a new tectonic regime. Practical tectonic analysis, based on observation of rocks and geophysical data, is a reliable guide for deciphering a region's geologic history and for resource exploration.

This book describes four different methods of paleotemperature assessment on selected Paleozoic rock units and determines spatial variations in maximum burial depths of these units and thicknesses of lost overburden. Stratigraphic and tectonic history of the northern Appalachian basin is described in details followed by a critical review of fluid inclusion, clay diagenesis, organic maturation, and stable isotope techniques of paleotemperature measurements in sedimentary rocks.