Crustal structure from Pacific Basin to Central Nevada : Thompson George A. and Manik Talwani, 1964. J. Geophys. Res., 69 (22): 4813–4837.

Abstract

Many of the developments in basin analysis originated in North America, including ideas about isostasy and about geosynclines. The first comprehensive application of plate-tectonic concepts to interpretations of continental geology took place in Newfoundland, and served as a confirmation of Wilson's revolutionary idea that the Atlantic Ocean “closed and then re-opened.” Later developments regarding foreland basins and controversies about thick-skinned versus thin-skinned tectonism were also resolved from North American data, particularly following the advent of the deep-crustal reflection-seismic methods of COCORP and Lithoprobe.Sequence stratigraphy was also developed initially in North America, stimulated by the recognition of widespread packages of strata separated by unconformities that did not correlate to the standard, largely European, chronostratigraphic framework.The major problems of North American Phanerozoic geology have now been largely solved, but significant issues remain, particularly regarding the local and regional histories of terrane amalgamation in the Appalachian and Cordilleran orogens.