ON TERRANE--A LATEST CONCERN IN THE STUDY OF PLATE TECTONICS
论地体构造——板块构造理论研究的最新问题

Terrane, a new term in plate tectonics, has been accepted by more and more geologists. It was first used by Irwin in 1972 when he was investigating the Paleozoic and Triassic strata in the Klamath Mountains in California. In 1977, Jones, Silberling and Hillhouse described a typical terrane--the Wrangellia terrane, and studied it on the part of paleontology, structure and paleomagnetism, which is a standard example for terrane study. It was at the 1983 Circum-Pacific Terrane Conference in Stamford University that Howell and Jones gave it a somewhat complete definition.This paper introduces the study of terrane in combination with some examples in China. It also deals with their classification, activity, origin and the subsequent effect of terrane accretion.