Did westward subduction cause Cretaceous-Tertiary orogeny in the North American cordillera?
Hildebrand, Robert S. Geological Society of America 2009 71 pages $40.00 Paperback Special paper; 457 QE621 Hildebrand (geosciences, U. of Arizona) has delivered this study for fellow researchers and geoscientists to examine new data suggesting that the North American Cordillera was subducted to the west beneath a segmented, arc-bearing micro-continent. The author employs several collision models to support his findings and to explain why the traditional model of a backarc shortening above an eastwardly dipping subduction zone does not fit current data. Full color maps, charts and cross-sections are used throughout this monograph, and a concluding section presents new problems and directions that deserve further study.
