Synopses & Reviews
Earth's present-day environments are the outcome of a 4.5 billion year period of evolution reflecting the interaction of global-scale geological and biological processes punctuated by several extraordinary events and episodes that perturbed the entire Earth system. One of the earliest and arguably greatest of these events was a substantial increase (orders of magnitude) in the atmospheric oxygen abundance, sometimes referred to as the Great Oxidation Event. The three-volume treatise entitled "Reading the Archive of Earth's Oxygenation" (i) provides a comprehensive review of the Palaeoproterozoic Eon with an emphasis on the Fennoscandian Shield geology; (ii) serves as an initial report of the preliminary analysis of one of the finest lithological and geochemical archives of early Palaeoproterozoic Earth history, created under the auspices of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Programme (ICDP); (iii) synthesises the current state of our understanding of aspects of early Palaeoproterozoic events coincident with and likely related to Earth's progressive oxygenation. Combining this information in three coherent volumes offers an unprecedented cohesive and comprehensive elucidation of the Great Oxidation Event and related global upheavals that eventually led to the emergence of the modern aerobic Earth System. The format of these books centres on high-quality photo-documentation of Fennoscandian Arctic Russia - Drilling Early Earth Project (FAR-DEEP) cores and natural exposures of the Palaeoproterozoic rocks of the Fennoscandian Shield. The photos are linked to geochemical data sets, summary figures and maps, time-slice reconstructions of basinal and palaeoenvironmental settings that document the response of the Earth system to the Great Oxidation Event. The emphasis on a thorough, well-illustrated characterisation of rocks reflects the importance of sedimentary and volcanic structures that form a basis for interpreting ancient depositional environments, and chemical, physical and biological processes operating on Earth's surface. The utility of photographs offers an excellent source of data for assessing and evaluating palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Finally, the three-volume treatise provides a link to the FAR-DEEP core collection archived at the Geological Survey of Norway. These drillcores are a unique resource that can be used to solve the outstanding problems in understanding the causes and consequences of the multiple processes associated with the progressive oxygenation of terrestrial environments. Volume 1: "The Palaeoproterozoic of Fennoscandia as Context for the Fennoscandian Arctic Russia - Drilling Earth Project" describes the implementation of the FAR-DEEP drilling project in Arctic Russia. It summarises the knowledge of more than 50 years of largely Russian-led fieldwork, information hitherto virtually unavailable in the west, and provides geological description of drilling areas with an overwhelming illustration of rocks by high-quality, representative photographs. The volume offers a comprehensive review and rich photo-illustration of palaeotectonic, palaeogeographic and magmatic evolution of the Fennoscandian Shield in the early Palaeoproterozoic, and link the evolution of the shield to the emergence of an aerobic Earth system. The volume unfolds the event-based Fennoscandian chronostratigraphy and discusses the chronology of the Palaeoproterozoic global events as the base for a new subdivision of Palaeoproterozoic time. Welcome to the illustrative journey through one of the most exciting periods of planet Earth!
Synopsis
This is the first of three volumes that survey the Palaeoproterozoic Eon with a focus on Fennoscandian Shield geology, reviewing early Palaeoproterozoic events coincident with Earth's progressive oxygenation. Includes photos of the FAR-DEEP core collection.
Table of Contents
Part 1 Palaeoproterozoic Earth.- Part 2 The Fennoscandian Arctic Russia - Drilling Early Earth Project (FAR-DEEP).- Part 3 Fennoscandia: the First 500 Million Years of the Palaeoproterozoic.- Part 4 Geology of the Drilling Sites.