The Precambrian Earth: Tempos and Events, Volume 12

In this book the editors strive to cover all primary (i.e. nonapplied) topics in Precambrian geology in a nonpartisan way, by using a large team of international authors to present their datasets and highly divergent viewpoints. The chapters address: celestial origins of Earth and succeeding extraterrestrial impact events; generation of continental crust and the greenstonegranite debate; the interaction of mantle plumes and plate tectonics over Precambrian time; Precambrian volcanism, emphasising komatiite research; evolution and models for Earth's hydrosphere and atmosphere; evolution of life and its influence on Precambrian ocean chemistry and chemical sedimentation; sedimentation through Precambrian time; the application of sequence stratigraphy to the Precambrian rock record. Each topic is introduced and a nonpartisan closing commentary provided at the end of each chapter. The final chapter blends the major geological events and rates at which important processes occurred into a synthesis, which postulates a number of "event clusters" in the Precambrian when significant changes occurred in many natural systems and geological environments.