Vanished Oceans in the Mountains of France
How is that rocks from the oceanic crust are found in French mountains ? How is their long story deciphered, from birth in the ocean basins, through burial at great depths, and then uplift into the mountains?
When buried to great depths and heated at different temperatures, rocks are transformed through chemical reactions. Some minerals disappear while some others crystallize. The resulting metamorphic rocks are fantastic witnesses of the evolution of the lithosphere.
Based on the example of an oceanic gabbro this book explains the approach that, from field and microscopic observations, allows one to map out the pressure-temperature conditions that these rocks underwent through time – the PTt path. Then the various successive geodynamic settings that this portion of oceanic crust encountered are deduced.
This book can also be used as a geological guide for all who wish to discover or rediscover these rocks in the field. Going through the French mountains, young or old (the Alps, the Massif central, the Massif armoricain, the Pyrénées, Corsica), it describes the best sites to observe and study examples of oceanic crust.
The watercolor illustrations in this book extend a long tradition of naturalist drawings, exhibiting both great precision and poetry.
This book is intended for all students of Earth sciences, their teachers and the broader, but passionate, non geologist audience.
Extracts : pages 48 et 49 – pages 54 et 55 – pages 62 et 63
FEATURES
Authors: Christian NICOLLET & Christine LAVERNE
Publisher: Quae
Edition: 1st (January 2013)
Language: French
Type: Paperback
ISBN-13 : 978-2-7592-1883-7
Reference: 02350
Nb of pages: 96
Size : 20 x 26 cm (7.9 x 10.2 inches)
Price: 23 euros