The Story of Geosynclines

The Story of Geosynclines

Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University
of Wisconsin - Green Bay

First-time Visitors: Please visit Site Map and Disclaimer. Use
"Back" to return here.

Structure of a Typical Mountain Range

A cross-section through a typical mountain range looks something like this. As we proceed from the stable
interior of the continent into the mountain range, we encounter a belt of shallow-water marine
sedimentary rocks. These rocks become thicker and more intensely deformed the farther we go into the
mountain range. There are frequently uplifted blocks of deep continental crust, then a belt of quite different
rocks. In the most intensely-deformed and metamorphosed part of the mountain range, the rocks consist of
thick, deep-water marine sedimentary rocks with abundant volcanic rocks. These rocks are often intruded
by batholiths.

The Concept of Geosynclines

In the late 19th century, geologists interpreted the structure of mountain ranges as shown below. They
reasoned that the sedimentary rocks had to accumulate in basins, and since the two belts of rock were so
different, there was likely a barrier between them. The uplifted deep crustal rocks found in the cores of
many mountain ranges seemed to support the idea of a ridge. The two belts of sedimentary rock were
envisioned as accumulating in great troughs, formed by folding of the entire crust. These crustal warps were
called geosynclines. The intervening ridge was termed a geanticline. The deep-water, volcanic belt, with its
great accumulations of rocks, was called the eugeosyncline (eu = Greek "real"), i.e. the "real" geosyncline,
and the shallow-water belt was called the miogeosyncline (mio = Greek "somewhat"), i.e. the "sort of"
geosyncline.

https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/platetec/geosync.htm[23/08/2015 00:12:32]
The Story of Geosynclines

The diagram above is adapted from a classic 1948 book by Marshall Kay called North American Geosynclines.
It shows an imagined cross-section across the northern Appalachians prior to the Appalachian Orogeny.

I was privileged to know Marshall Kay in graduate school. Kay's book even today contains a wealth of data on
the geology of North American orogenic belts. It is no discredit to Kay that he drew the diagram above
before plate tectonics was widely accepted. When plate tectonics came along, Kay worked very hard at
reinterpreting his ideas in plate tectonic terms, and was actively theorizing and doing field work right up to
his death in 1974.

Robert Dietz' Reinterpretation

One bothersome feature of geosynclines was that no contemporary examples seemed to exist. When plate
tectonics appeared, the problem became even more acute. It seemed difficult to construct a plate-tectonic
cross-section that looked very much like a classic geosyncline.

Around 1970, Robert Dietz took a fresh look at the problem. His approach was to ask, in effect, exactly how
much of the classic geosyncline model do we actually see in the field? We understand the shallow-water
portion of the sedimentary pile pretty well, we see uplifted basement rocks, and a tremendous pile of deep-
water sediments and volcanic rocks, but we really don't see what these rocks are resting on. The diagram
below shows what we actually observe.

Dietz then asked, if we don't see anything that looks like a classical geosyncline, is there something we do
see that looks like what we actually observe in mountain belts? The assemblage of sedimentary rocks looks

https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/platetec/geosync.htm[23/08/2015 00:12:32]
The Story of Geosynclines

much like an ordinary continental shelf and slope like we see off the east coast of the United States, as
shown below. Dietz realized that geosynclines really aren't synclines, and dropped the "syn" part to coin the
term geocline.

If subduction begins off such a continental margin, volcanic rocks, mixed with sediment eroded from the
volcanic arc, will be added to the eugeosynclinal part of the embryonic mountain chain.

Terrane Accretion
In the 1970's geologists began to realize there was another way to make a geosyncline; form the two parts
separately and join them later by plate collisions. Much of the Appalachian mio-eugeosyncline pair actually
formed this way.

https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/platetec/geosync.htm[23/08/2015 00:12:32]
The Story of Geosynclines

The story of geosynclines is a superb illustration of how scientists can be hampered by conceptual models,
and how returning to the actual data and reinterpreting it can solve a problem. The term "geosyncline" is
still sometimes used simply because it has a widely-understood meaning. Many geologists, recognizing that
geosynclines really aren't synclines, prefer to follow Dietz' usage and speak of geoclines instead.

Return to 296-202 Class Notes Index

Access Crustal Movements Notes Index
Return to Professor Dutch's Home Page

Created 6 January 1998, Last Update 01 September 2011

Not an official UW Green Bay site

https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/platetec/geosync.htm[23/08/2015 00:12:32]