Published 1995 as part of Memoir 62
Copyright © 1995 The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.   All Rights Reserved.

Calibrated geohistory analyses of single data points and cross sections are used to construct tectonic subsidence curves. There are a limited number of distinct curve types, of which seven end-members are discussed. These curve types and their shapes are genetically related to plate tectonic processes. One regional backstripped cross section across South America is discussed. The tectonic subsidence curves are used as calibration for a paleogeographic analysis of Gondwana in the Phanerozoic. It is suggested that the southern part of South America and parts of Antarctica are composed of terranes that were formerly located west of the present position of the Arequipa massif in Chile and Peru. These displaced terranes formed the western edge of Gondwana from the Cambrian-Ordovician to the end of the Devonian. During these periods, they were involved in intracratonic rifting. During the time of the basal Carboniferous unconformity, the terranes were translated southward to approximately their present positions. Seven reconstructions are presented that are representative of the major episodes in the development of Gondwana.