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60 CHAPTER 3

5 Metallogenic provinces. Regions containing
manganese, iron ore, gold, and tin can be
matched across adjacent coastlines on such
reconstructions (Evans, 1987).

3.4 PALEOCLIMATOLOGY

The distribution of climatic regions on the Earth is
controlled by a complex interaction of many phenom-
ena, including solar flux (i.e. latitude), wind directions,

ocean currents, elevation, and topographic barriers
(Sections 13.1.2, 13.1.3). The majority of these phe-
nomena are only poorly known in the geologic record.
On a broad scale, however, latitude is the major con-
trolling factor of climate and, ignoring small micro-
Figure 3.7 Correlation of Permo-Carboniferous glacial
deposits, Mesozoic dolerites, and Precambrian climatic regions dependent on rare combinations of
anorthosites between the reconstructed continents of other phenomena, it appears likely that the study of
Gondwana (after Smith & Hallam, 1970, with permission climatic indicators in ancient rocks can be used to infer,
from Nature 225, 139–44. Copyright 1970 Macmillan in a general sense, their ancient latitude. Consequently,
Publishers Ltd).

Figure 3.8 Correlation of stratigraphy between Gondwana continents (redrawn from Hurley, 1968, the Confirmation

of Continental Drift. Copyright © 1968 by Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved.)