THE PRECAMBRIAN

The Precambrian includes all of geologic time prior to the beginning of the
Cambrian period and thus cover approximately 87 percent of geologic time. Rocks
of this age are often metamorphosed to gneisses and schists, but in some areas
they have not been metamorphosed. Precambrian rocks underline stable areas of
low relief called shields. Shields are the nuclei of the continents around which the
younger rock system have developed. In the older portions of these areas, the
roots of very ancient mountains are exposed. Shields generally show evidence of
several episodes of sedimentation, mounhttps://www.amazon.com.mx/MagiDeal-
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1&keywords=joystick+arcade+usbain building, and erosion. Rocks of Precambrian
age are also found in the cores of young mountain ranges.
SUBDIVIDING THE PRECAMBRIAN
Except for algal stromatolites, very few fossils have been found in deposits of
Precambrian age. For this reason, the degree of metamorphism served as a basic
for subdividing the Precambrian before the widespread use of radiometric dating.
Intensely metamorphosed rocks were thought to be the oldest units and were
assigned to the Archean (Archeozoic) era, whereas rocks of lower metamorphic
grade were assigned to the Proterozoic era. In some instances, however,
radiometric dating has demonstrated that slightly metamorphosed rocks are
actually older than intensely metamorphosed rocks in nearby areas. Thus the
intensity of metamorphism has proven to be an unsatisfactory method of
subdividing the Precambrian. At the present time, reconstruction of Precambrian
geologic history relies heavily on radiometric dating.
Potassium-argon, rubidium-strontium, and uranium-leas dating of Precambrian
basement rocks has shown that several major orogenic episodes (periods of
mountain building, folding, faulting, metamorphism, uplift, and intrusion) occurred
simultaneously on all continents. The frequency distribution of radiometric dates for
Precambrian rocks indicates that there were peaks of metamorphism and intrusion
at 1.0, 1.7, and 2.5billion years ago. Using these date as boundaries, the
Precambrian may be subdivided into four eras from oldest to youngest: the
Archean, the Early Proterozoic, the Middle Proterozoic, and the Late Proterozoic.
Other classification system for the Precambrian are also in use.
PRECAMBRIAN GEOGRAPHY
Some geologist believe that the continents formed soo after the formation of the
earth, and that only a relatively small fraction of the earth`s crust was added at a
later date. Others believe that a large part of the crust was added slowly
throughout geological time.
Study of the crust development on the moon and other planets lends support to the
view that most continental material formed early. It has been suggested that a
single large continent (Pangea) formed during the Proterozoic and remained as a
single unit until it broke apart during the Mesozoic era .It has also been suggested
that there have been some openings and closings of ocean, but that this began
only 600 million years ago at the very end of the Precambrian. However,
Paleomagnetic , structural, lithological, and stratigraphic data indicate that
continents moved relative to each other throughout the Proterozoic, and probably
during the Archean as well.
In order to determine the relative positions of the continents during the
Precambrian, apparent polar wander (A.P.W) curves for North American,
Gondwanaland, Europe, and Asia were recalculated for a Pangea reconstruction of
the continents. This was done by moving these continents along with their A.P.W
paths to the positions which they occupied prior to the beginning of separation of
the continents during the Mesozoic. The recalculated