Earth-Science Reviews 41 (1996) 31-65

Island-arc carbonates: characterization and recognition in the

ancient geologic record
C.M. Soja *
Department of Geology, Colgate Uniuersity, Hamilton, NY 13346, USA

Received 16 February 1996; revised 6 June 1996;accepted6 June 1996

Abstract

Carbonates of island-arc origin that are preserved in Paleozoic-Mesozoic terranes of the North American Cordillera
exhibit a distinctive suite of paleontologic and lithologic features and share a fundamental similarity with limestones forming
in modem volcanic arcs. This study provides the first detailed synthesis of carbonate depositional systems in island arcs and
documents primary sedimentary constituents based on facies relationships and faunal communities. Models are developed
that show patterns in the long-term evolution of shallow marine organisms and the construction, evolution, and demise of
carbonate platforms in island arcs. A suite of criteria is identified that may be used to differentiate island-arc carbonates from
limestones that accumulated in other platform settings.
Biogeographic isolation, prolonged subsidence, steep submarine slopes and tectonic instability of volcanic edifices
contribute to the development of relatively high levels of species endemism, impoverished normal marine faunas, complex
provincial affinities, and relict biotas in limestones that are characterized by exceptionally thick platform and periplatform
sequences, fringing and barrier reefs at the shelf margin, extensive lagoonal deposits and rapid lateral and vertical facies
changes. Although destructive tectonic and geologic processes in island arcs may hinder determining the original size and
extent of the carbonate platform, and particular facies types may not be represented (e.g., fringing and barrier reefs may be
replaced by sand shoals at the platform margin), many characteristics have potential value for identifying carbonates of
island-arc origin in the ancient rock record. Apart from being associated with talc-alkaline volcanic and volcaniclastic
assemblages, the most valuable suite of features for recognizing island-arc carbonates is marine biotas that exhibit elevated
levels of endemism and mixed paleobiogeographic affinities, extraordinary thicknesses of platform (shallow marine) and
periplatform carbonates, and rapid facies changes between volcanic and carbonate rocks and between shallow and deep
water limestones. Recognizing that an ensemble of features is distinctive within island-arc carbonates considerably enhances
identification of volcanic arcs in the ancient geologic record and thus improves the likelihood of successfully unraveling the
complex geologic history of ocean basins.

Keywords: island arcs; carbonates; terranes

* Fax: 315-824-7187; E-mail: csoja@center.colgate.edu

0012-8252/96/$29.00 Copyright 0 1996 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

PII SOOl2-8252(96)00029-3
1. Introduction to complex tectonic activity involving collisions,
subduction reversals, rifting, strike-slip motion and
Limestones occur in Paleozoic-Mesozoic island erogenic deformation (Mitchell, 1970; Hamilton,
arcs that were accreted as terranes to the North 1988). Subsequent erosion may have obliterated most
American Cordillera (Fig. 1) and in many Tertiary- of the original volcanic structure, resulting in mass
Holocene arcs of the South Pacific and Caribbean wasting of submarine deposits and exposure of only
(Fig. 2, Table l), but few models have been pro- the deepest submarine levels and plutonic-metamor-
duced that describe biological and physical processes phic roots of an arc. Additionally, the island origins
responsible for the development of carbonate deposi- of sedimentary strata, which may have survived the
tional systems in these tectonically active settings. geologic and tectonic agents of destruction, can be
This synthesis shows that ancient and modem island- difficult to identify in many instances because of
arc carbonates share fundamental similarities and their exposure over very limited areas (Mitchell,
exhibit a distinctive suite of sedimentary character- 1970).
istics. These properties reflect the origin of lime-
stones adjacent to subconical/conical volcanic edi-
fices characterized by biogeographic isolation, low
rates of protracted subsidence, steep submarine slopes
and tectonic instability (Soja, 1992; Watkins, 1993a).
Although some sedimentary features of island-arc
carbonates are shared in common with limestones
that formed in other platform settings, a suite of
special attributes can be used to identify island arcs
in the rock record. New discoveries of islands in
terrane belts will help to dispel misconceptions that
still prevail about the preservation and potential for
recognition of pre-Jurassic oceanic islands.
Offshore islands are conspicuous features in the
marine realm, but an appreciation of their preserva-
tion as accreted terranes has been initiated only
recently (Soja, 1992; Stanley, 1996). It is estimated
that more than a million oceanic islands. including
emergent volcanic arcs and hot spot volcanoes, atolls
and submerged seamounts and guyots, underlie the
Pacific Ocean today and that intraplate volcanism,
which produces clustered islands and linear island
chains, may account for 25% of ocean crust (Davies,
1985; Duncan and Clague, 1985; Floyd, 199 1; Nunn.
1994) (Fig. 2). Because the oldest parts of ocean
crust underlying modem oceans is Jurassic in age, it
has generally been viewed that less than 10% sur- Fig. I Location and generalized stratigraphy of limestone-bearing
t&u&arc terranes in the North American Cordillera: I Peninsular
vives of the pre-Cretaceous record of seafloor activ-
terrane: 2 Wrangellia terrane * : 3 Alexander terrane; 4 Stikine
ity, the rest having been lost through the subduction terrane: 5 Chilliwack terrane; 6 Wailowa terrane; 7 Grindstone
of lithosphere along consuming plate margins or terrane: X Bilk Creek terrane: 9 Eastern Klamath terrane: 10
through other tectonically destructive processes dur- Northern Sierra terrane. Stratigraphic sections for the Alexander
ing recycling of oceanic crust (Davies, 1985). Island terrane (3) and the Eastern Klamath terrane (9) are in Fig. 3.
Symbols are ah in Fig. 3. Modified from Brown et al. (1991).
arcs, for example, are generally perceived as being
Jones ( I990), Miller (1987).Rusmore and Woodsworth ( 199 I ).
poorly preserved and difficult to recognize in the Saleehy (1983) and Wang et al. (I 988). * = island-arc setting for
ancient geologic record because they were subjected Paleozoic rocks only.
 C.M. Soja/Earth-Science Reviews 41 (1996) 31-65 33

Fig. 2. Map showing general distribution of accreted terranes (stippled area) and locations of islands and archipelagos referred to in text: I
Hawaiian Islands; 2 Johnston atoll; 3 Clipperton atoll; 4 Cocos Island; 5 Galapagos Islands; 6 Easter Island; 7 Pitcairn Island; 8
Marquesas Islands; 9 Tuamotu Islands; 10 Society Islands; II Tonga; I2 Fiji: 13 Vanuatu (New Hebrides Islands); 14 Solomon Islands;
15 Papua New Guinea; 16 Belau (Palaul; 17 Mariana Islands (Guam); I8 Caroline Islands (Truk); 29 Marshall Islands (Bikini and
Enewetak atolls): 20 Lachlan Fold Belt; 21 West Indies Islands; 22 St. Helena Island; 23 Ascension Island; 24 Northern Appalachian
terranes. Detailed locations of Cordilleran terranes are given in Fig. 1. Dashed line demarcates intraoceanic island arcs. Modified from
Howell (19851, Hutton (19891, Miller (1987) and Sedlock et al. (1993).

Doubts about the preservational potential of is-
lands. including volcanic arcs, were justified before
it became more widely recognized that many oceanic
islands have successfully survived structural defor-
mation during tectonic transport and have become
integrated as accreted terranes into the geologic
record of continental margins (Mitchell and Reading,
1971; Silver and Smith, 1983; Hamilton, 1988;
Coney, 1990; Soja, 1992). Recent advances in iso-
tope geochemistry have enabled the identification of
a variety of ancient oceanic islands, including island
arcs, seamounts and oceanic plateaus of Paleozoic
and Mesozoic age, in the suites of terranes that lie
within circum-oceanic belts (Coney et al., 1980;
Saleeby, 1983; Williams, 1985). For example, Nd
and Sr ratios have been used to ascertain the accre-
tion to continental margins of juvenile crustal mate-
rial with oceanic affinities (Samson et al., 1989;
Samson et al., 19901, and distinctive, immature sili-
ciclastic units, in which volcanic rock fragments,
plagioclase and mafic heavy minerals predominate,
have been shown to represent the erosion of an-
desitic, volcano-plutonic, arc-related complexes
(Galloway, 1974). It is now generally acknowledged
that sedimentary deposits form a significant propor-
tion of the stratigraphic record of many island se-
quences (e.g., Miller, 1987; Soja, 1992). Recent
study in the Caribbean region, for instance, reveals
that many island-arc successions consist predomi-
nantly of volcaniclastic (pyroclastic and epiclastic)
material and comprise only relatively minor occur-
rences of volcanic and plutonic rocks (Larue et al.,
199 1). Furthermore, calc:alkaline volcaniclastic de-
posits and turbidites poor in quartz may provide the
only diagnostic record of island-arc volcanism and
volcanogenic sedimentation in deep marine environ-
ments (Mitchell, 1970; Galloway, 1974; Kokelaar et
al., 1990).
The purpose of this paper is to provide the first
detailed compilation of sedimentary characteristics
(paleontologic and lithologic) of island-arc carbon-
ates and to demonstrate which attributes are shared
in common with limestones that formed in other
platform settings and which can be used to infer
Table 1
Pm-Holocene island-arc carbonates

Age Description (Location) Reference

Ordovician Platform carbonates (Oslo region, Norway) Bjorlykke ( 1974)
M-L Ordovician Platform carbonates (New South Wales, Australia) Webby and Percival (1983); Webby (19921
Ordovician-Devonian(?) Periplatform carbonates (Northern Sierra Nevada terrane) Hannah and Moores ( 1986)
Silurian-Permian Platform, reef and periplatform carbonates (Alexander terranel Gehrels and Saleeby (1987); Soja (19931
Devonian-Permian Platform and fringing carbonate buildups (Stikine terrane) Brown et al. (1991)
Devonian-Permian Platform and periplatform carbonates (Eastern Klamath terrane) Miller (1987); Watkins (1990)
Devonian-Permian M6lange of platform, reef and periplatform carbonates Miller ( 1987); Blome and Nestell ( 199 11
(Grindstone terrane)
Devonian-Permian Platform, reef and periplatform carbonates (Chilliwack terrane) Miller (1987)
Penn?, E Permian Platform carbonates (Wrangellia terrane) Richards et al. (1991)
Permian Platform carbonates (Bilk Creek terrane) Miller (1987)
Triassic Platform and basinal carbonates (Italy) Garzanti (1985)
M-L Triassic Platform (?) carbonates (Northern Sierra terrane) Miller (19871
L Triassic Isolated bioherms and minor periplatform (?l carbonates Reid (1989); Rusmore and Woodsworth (1991)
(Stikine or Cache Creek terrane)
L Triassic Platform (carbonate bank) deposits (Eastern Klamath terranel Miller (19871
L Triassic Platform and periplatform carbonates (Peninsular terrane) Wang et al. (1988)
L Triassic Platform carbonates (Quesnel terrane) Stanley and Nelson ( 1996)
L Triassic-M Jurassic Platform, periplatform, and basinal carbonates (Wallowa terranel Whalen (1988); Follo (1994): Stanley and Beauvais (1990)
Cretaceous-Paleogene Platform (?) carbonates (Jamaica) Draper ( 1990)
Cretaceous-Eocene Platform carbonates (Puerto Rico) Lame et al. (1991)
Cretaceous-Eocene, Periplatform carbonates (Northern Virgin Islands) Larue et al. (1991)
Miocene-Pliocene
Eocene-M Miocene Platform, reef and periplatform carbonates (offshore se Asia) Fulthorpe and Schlanger (1989)
Eocene-Pleistocene Platform, reef, periplatform and basinal carbonates (Guam) Schlanger (1964); Tracey et al. (1964)
Eocene-Pleistocene Platform, reef and periplatform carbonates (Tonga) Cunningham and Anscombe ( 1985); Woodhall ( 1985)
Eocene-Pleistocene Platform, reef and periplatform carbonates (Papua New Guinea) Exon and Marlow (1988); Stewart and Sandy (1988)
E Miocene Reef carbonates (Martinique) Lame et al. (1991)
E-M Miocene Platform, reef and periplatform carbonates (Fiji) Hathway (1994, 1995)
E Miocene-Pleistocene Platform, reef and periplatform carbonates (Vanuatu) Mitchell (1970); Coulson and Vedder (1986);
Macfarlane et al. (1988); Niem (1989)
E Miocene-E Pliocene Platform, reef and periplatform carbonates (Eastern Indonesia) Hall et al. ( 1988)
Miocene-Pleistocene Platform and reef carbonates (Grenadines Bank) Dey and Smith (19891
Miocene-Pleistocene Platform and reef carbonates (Barbados) Tomblin ( 1970)
Neogene Platform and biohermal carbonates (Lesser Antilles) Adey and Burke ( 19771
 CM. Soja/ Earth-Science
origin in an ancient island-arc environment. Recogni-
tion of these distinctive characteristics is based
largely on my work in Alaska and observations in
the Society Islands but also incorporates compar-
isons with deposits that are reasonably well docu-
mented from other island terranes and modem vol-
canic islands. Together these data illustrate the di-
verse biological and physical processes associated
with the development and demise of carbonate plat-
forms in island arcs. It is expected that future de-
tailed research on the many modem and ancient
islands that remain unstudied will further refine and
strengthen the criteria presented here, which have
been particularly useful in terrane investigations in
the North American Cordillera. Future focus, for
example, on the diagenetic aspects of island lime-
stones may help to identify additional diagnostic
features. Thus the results are presented here with the
hope that they will stimulate additional research on
the global recognition of ancient island-arc deposits.
2. Terminology
Terms used in this study to describe a variety of
oceanic islands are those of Nunn (1994). Most of
the worlds oceanic islands that form away from
continental margins range in size from 50-10,000
km2 and originate through intraplate or plate bound-
ary volcanism. Island arcs are arcuate chains of
volcanic islands associated with convergent plate
boundaries; hot spots or linear fissures in intraplate
settings typically produce lines or clusters of vol-
canic islands. Intraplate volcanism and volcanic ac-
tivity at divergent plate boundaries commonly pro-
duce seamounts and guyots. Seamounts are any sub-
marine edifice that rises < 2 km above the seafloor;
guyots are mainly flat-topped, drowned volcanic is-
lands that rise > 2 km above the ocean floor.
Atolls, or circular reefs that enclose a central
lagoon, represent late stages in the evolutionary his-
tory of a variety of oceanic volcanoes that have risen
into shallow marine zones. With the cessation of
volcanism and after a volcanic edifice has been
eroded and submerged, an atoll may form if reefs
colonize the submarine perimeter of the volcano and
keep pace with subsidence, growing upwards to
eventually encircle an enlarging lagoon. Carbonate
Reviews41(19%) 31-65 35
platforms, which form large sedimentary bodies in
the euphotic zone, may evolve as ramps, which slope
gently from shallow to deep water, or as rimmed
shelves, which have reefs or sand bodies that demar-
cate the platform edge adjacent to the foreslope,
where there is an abrupt change to a steeper subma-
rine slope (Schlager, 1981; Read, 1985).
3. Lithologic characteristics
3.1. Introduction
The focus of this study is on island arcs located
within 30 of the equator under conditions that favor
the widespread precipitation of carbonate deposits.
Island-arc assemblages that comprise a high propor-
tion of volcanic or volcaniclastic deposits and rare
limestones (either because of tectonic processes or
climatically unfavorable conditions) are not de-
scribed in this study but are documented in numer-
ous other reports (e.g., Mitchell and Reading, 1971;
Garcia, 1978; Camp, 1984; Coulson, 1985; Hannah
and Moores, 1986; Hathway, 1994). In this article, a
discussion of lithologic characteristics in island-arc
carbonates precedes that of biological features so
that the evolution of shallow marine communities
can be understood within the context of the physical
conditions affecting their initial colonization, estab-
lishment and evolution.
Many lithologic attributes of shallow marine, is-
land-arc carbonates record their origin adjacent to
subconical/conical islands that have risen into the
photic zone following a complex series of events
involving submarine volcanism, plutonism and the
production of volcanic, pyroclastic and epiclastic
stratigraphic sequences that typically are 5-10 km
thick (Mitchell and Reading, 197 1; Macfarlane et al.,
1988; Lame et al., 1991; Vallier, 1995). Youthful,
emergent volcanic islands situated in subtropical and
tropical sites generally undergo high rates of erosion,
denudation and prolonged subsidence (Menard,
1986). Thus many sediments that form initially in
subaerial sites on a volcanic arc edifice are eventu-
ally deposited in a spectrum of environments extend-
ing from a shallow marine platform to deep water
along a slope and adjoining oceanic basin.
36 CM. Soja / Eurth-Scirnce
Explosive volcanism can occur in any terrestrial
or aqueous environment once the submarine volcano
resides in water less than 100-500 m deep, where
hydrostatic pressure is reduced (Larue et al., 1991;
Nunn, 1994). Eruptive products typically are trans-
ported along steep antecedent slopes ( N 25-40) into
deep water, fault-bounded basins that characterize
much of intra-arc topography (Woodhall, 1985;
Fulthorpe and Schlanger, 1989; Nunn. 1994). Recent
volcaniclastic sediments, for example, that are 5 km
thick in the Solomon Islands (Vanuatu arc) represent
enormous quantities of eruptive material that were
exported to intra-arc basins from nearby source areas
(Coulson, 1985; Colwell and Tiffin, 1986; Vedder
and Coulson, 1986; Greene et al., 1988).
With interruptions in volcanic activity or when
volcanism ceases, dormant (or extinct) volcanoes
undergo initially relatively high rates of subsidence
(- 0.25-3 or 4 m 1000 yr-) because of crustal
loading associated with newly formed oceanic crust
(Schlager, 1981; Jones, 1995). Within one or two
million years as the ocean crust ages, subsidence
stabilizes to slower rates equivalent to that of the
surrounding sea floor (N 0.01-0.10 m 1000 yr-)
(Schlager, 1981; Wheeler and Aharon, 1991; Jones,
1995). Carbonates forming on submarine platforms,
which have an average growth potential of I m 1000
yr- (Schlager, 198 11, begin accumulating during
intervals of volcanic quiescence or with diminished
volcaniclastic and elastic influx, keeping pace with
the intially high rates of subsidence. Largely because
of ongoing subsidence and intermittent tectonic ac-
tivity, island-arc limestones typically form diagnosti-
cally thick platform sequences, fringing and barrier
reefs show sequential evolution, lagoonal deposits
are well developed, and abundant periplatform sedi-
ments exhibit rapid lateral and vertical facies changes
with shallow marine facies (Table 2).
3.2. Thick pla@orm sequences
In extinct arcs undergoing subsidence in the equa-
torial zone, calcareous material becomes increasingly
more abundant than volcanic and derivative volcani-
elastic facies in subtidal environments (Larue et al.,
1991). Termination of volcanism, submarine erosion,
stabilization of volcaniclastic substrates, diminution
in elastic influx and intra-arc rifting causing uplift of
Review.\ 41 (1996) 31-65
Table 2
Characteristics of island-arc carbonates
Lithologic
Thick platform sequences
Sequential evolution of fringing and barrier reefs
Well-developed lagoonal deposits
Abundant resedimented periplatform carbonate debris *
Rapid facies changes ~
Pulrontologic
High levels of species endemism *
Impoverished, normal marine faunas
Complex provincial affinities *
Relict biotas
= starred items may be used together to differentiate island-arc
carbonates from limestones that formed in other platform settings
(see text for discussion)
submerged areas into the photic zone and (or) shield-
ing of shallow marine environments from erosional
debris promote favorable conditions for widespread
carbonate precipitation in island arcs (Adey and
Burke, 1977; Fulthorpe and Schlanger, 1989; Lame
et al., I99 I ; Hathway, 1995). Although basal parts of
many arc assemblages are dominated by extrusive
volcanic, volcaniclastic and epiclastic rocks, there is
an upward stratigraphic increase in the proportion of
calcareous material and deposition of thick platform
sequences (Mitchell, 1970; see figs. 2 and 3 in
Miller, 1987). For instance, Recent sediments that
are 5 km thick in the Solomons Island (Vanuatu arc)
are predominantly volcaniclastic but are associated
with reef and platform carbonates, which became
extensive during intervals of volcanic quiescence
(Coulson, 1985). Similarly, more than 4 km of arc
sediments were deposited in the Central New Ireland
arc near Papua New Guinea, with massive carbonate
platforms (N 1 km thick) forming during waning
volcanism (Exon and Marlow, 1988) (Fig. 3). Other
examples include the carbonate platforms that devel-
oped adjacent to islands in the Antilles arc several
million years after becoming volcanically inactive
(Adey and Burke, 1977); Cretaceous shallow marine
limestones that are present only high in the strati-
graphic succession exposed on northeastern Puerto
Rico (Larue et al., 1991) and Upper Triassic lime-
stones 100-500 m thick that unconformably overlie
a Permian-Upper Triassic island-arc assemblage of
volcanic and volcaniclastic facies, which are at least
 II 111 meters FORMATIONS -
6000-
I ki
I
3

tom- 4ooo

I
20(x)- 2con

NEW IRELAND. PAPUA

I
-

O- C
Ep 6TERN KLAMATH TERRANE ZLEKULA Is.. vmuk

ALEXANDER TERRAP

Fig. 3. Generalized stratigraphy and geologic

events in arc assemblages of the Alexander terrane, Eastern Klamath terrane, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea. Modified from
E&\&n et al. (1983), &on and Malow (1988),
Gebrels and Saleeby (1987). MacfarIane et al. (1988), Miller (1989), Mitchell (197O), Ovenshine and Webster (1970). Soja
(1993) and Watkins (1990). Refer to Fig. 4 for stratigraphic and lithofacies details of limestones in the Alexander and Eastern Klamath wanes.
 38 C.M. Soja/ Earth-Science Reviews 41 (19%) 31-65

4 km thick in the Wallowa terrane (Whalen, 1988)
(Fig. 1). In the Eastern Klamath terrane, Middle
Devonian volcaniclastics, siliceous mudstones and
limestones (Kennett Formation) overlie nearly 3 km
of pyroclastics, tholeiitic basalts and andesites (Cop-
ley Greenstone) and rhyolite flows and tuffs (Bal-
aklala Rhyolite) (Fig. 3). Together these deposits
record the first appearance of limestones that formed
during final stages in the construction of an arc
edifice (Watkins and Flory, 1986).

A ENVIRONMENT B
I II III IV I II III IV

-7
TRANSITIONAL

SLOPE

0
tzI
BARRIER RIMMED
SHELF
stromatohte boundstones
I
W skeletal wckesones.
Fz3 wckstones. & rudstones

-?
FRINGING RIMMED
SHELF
E
N
L
0
C
K a limestone hubiites

I
Fig. 4. Detailed stratigraphy, Iithofacies, and depositional environments of limestones in island-arc terranes: (A) composite stratigraphic
section of the Silurian Heceta Formation in the Alexander terrane showing abundance of lagoonal and periplatform carbonates. Note
sequential evolution of fringing and barrier reefs (boundstones and skeletal rudstones) at the shelf rim. Modified from Soja (1993) and (B)
generalized composite stratigraphic section of the Lower Permian McCloud Limestone in tbe Eastern KIamath terrane showing abundant
platform carbonates and lack of reefs (no boundstones or skeletal rudstones) at the platform margin. Modified from Watkins (1993a). I
supratidal-intertidal zones; II lagoon or open shelf: III platform margin and IV slope/basin.
 CM Soja/Earth-Science Reuiews41(19%) 31-65
With the end of volcanism or during protracted
intervals of tectonic quiescence represented by re-
duced elastic influx, carbonate platforms have the
potential to become considerable in size and extent
as the surrounding lithosphere cools and causes sub-
sidence of the entire island (Nunn, 1994). For exam-
ple, seismic stratigraphy reveals that shelf carbonates
near the Papua New Guinea forearc basin are 2 km
thick (Marlow et al., 1988). More than 700 m of
Silurian limestones (Heceta Formation) accumulated
on a shallow marine platform in the Alexander ter-
rane of southeastern Alaska during a prolonged inter-
ruption in widespread volcanic arc activity, which
had produced 1500 m of volcaniclastics and in-
terbedded basalt flows (Soja, 1991a,1992) (Fig. 3).
Comparison with coeval Silurian limestones that
formed under different tectonic conditions shows
that the Alaska limestones (700 m thick) (Fig. 4) are
two times thicker than calcareous units deposited in
the Oslo region of southern Norway (350 m thick)
during Caledonian orogenesis and nearly twice as
thick as those that originated under cratonic condi-
tions on Gotland, Sweden (400 m thick) (Soja, 1993).
The initial buildup of thick limestones in many
arc sequences records the evolution of a shallow
marine platform on top of a distally steepened ramp.
Facies transitions from coarse-grained volcaniclastics
to fine-grained Heceta limestones with shallow water
indicators in the Alexander terrane (Soja, 1993) are
similar to those evident in volcaniclastic turbidites
and conglomeratic debris flows of slope origin that
grade upwards to cross-bedded, shallow marine car-
bonate grainstones of Permian age (McCloud Forma-
tion) in the Eastern Klamath terrane (Watkins, 1993a)
(Fig. 3). Similarities are also shared with intercalated
volcaniclastic and deep water carbonate units that are
gradational with shallow subtidal limestones in the
basal part of the Triassic Martin Bridge Formation,
Wallowa terrane (Whalen, 1988). These stratigraphic
sequences suggest similar processes involving the
initial progradation of limestones over steep an-
tecedent submarine slopes built of volcanic and vol-
caniclastic material and the eventual growth of a
submarine platform where limestones are deposited
under shallow water conditions (Fig. 5).
That platform carbonates can reach extraordinary
thicknesses reflects not only a decrease in tectonic
activity but also prolonged intervals of relatively low
39
rates of subsidence (equivalent to modem ocean
crust) unaffected by significant isostatic adjustment,
sea-level change or uplift. An average rate of subsi-
dence for oceanic crust, including mid-oceanic atolls
like Enewetak and Moruroa, is 0.1-0.2 m 1000
yr-, but Hawaii, for example, experiences higher
subsidence rates (4.4 m 1000 yr-) because of its
tectonic transport down the relatively steep flanks of
an intraplate swell (Nunn, 1994). Passive continental
margins subside with rates that may be somewhat
lower, ranging from 0.01-0.1 m 1000 yr- , whereas
subsidence rates in modem sedimentary basins can
be substantially higher, ranging from 0.1-2.5 m
1000 yr- (Read, 1985; Tucker and Wright, 1990).
A considerable range in subsidence rates (0.3-1.1 m
1000 yr- ) for Tertiary sediments in Puerto Rico
(West Indies arc) reflects the influence of different
processes (thermal contraction and sediment loading
vs. flexural isostasy) on rates of subsidence (Birch,
1986).
Modem shelf carbonates accumulate at rates that
range from 0.5-l .5 m 1000 yr- , and coral growth
along a reef front may reach 6-15 m 1000 yr-
(Schlager, 1981; Read, 1985; Tucker and Wright,
1990). Thus carbonate precipitation under optimum
marine conditions should be able to keep pace with
low to moderate rates of subsidence (Tucker and
Wright, 1990) and reef sedimentation should keep
up with gradual subsidence or sea-level rise in the
range of 0.5-3 m 1000 yr- (Mesolella et al., 1970;
Whalen, 1988). For example, Watkins et al. (1987)
estimated that subsidence rates were 0.05-0.3 m
1000 yr- during a 3 m.y. interval of inactive vol-
canism in the Eastern Klamath terrane; Permian plat-
form limestones accumulated at an approximate rate
of 0.3 m 1000 yr-, keeping pace with subsidence at
a rate that is average for oceanic crust. Thus the
considerable thicknesses of platform carbonates in
this and other arcs (or other tropically situated oceanic
islands) are largely attributable to low rates of subsi-
dence that accompany diminished heat flow and
thermal contraction experienced by a volcanic edi-
fice during intervals of inactive volcanism.
3.3. Sequential reef evolution
As is true of other platform sediments, most
successful periods of reef development in many arc
40 C.M. Sqjo/ Earth-Science Reviews 41 (IY96) 31-6.5

steep incipient submerged

submarine carbonate volcanic
slopes platform cone barrier
c--- ato--____
reef lagoon
6

late stage
volcanism periplatform
disruption in
debris flows platform karst
volcaniclastic carbonate platform
& slumps collapse develqpment

emergent
volcaniclasdc volcanic
ramp drowned carbonate
fringing reef
platform
I

periplatform barrier eroded

debris reef lagoon volcano
I I I
 CM. Soja/Earth-Science Reaiews 41 (1996) 3I-65 41

successions are correlated with episodes of volcanic
inactivity or with shifts in the loci of volcanism
away from sites of carbonate precipitation and reef
growth (Fulthorpe and Schlanger, 1989; Dey and
Smith, 1989). In the Stikine (or Cache Creek) terrane
(Stanley, 1996) for example, an Upper Triassic reef
complex built by calcisponges, spongiomorphs and
corals (Senowbari-Daryan and Reid, 1987; Reid,
1989) and an Early Jurassic coral reef (Stanley and
McRoberts, 1993; Stanley and Beauvais, 1994)
evolved on volcaniclastic substrates during periods
of reduced siliciclastic influx and intermittent vol-
canism. Although in situ reefs are not well repre-
sented on Guam, a highly evolved reef complex had
developed around the volcanic island before re-
peated, intense volcanism destroyed it. The former
existence of Tertiary (Eocene-Miocene) reefs on
Guam is evident in algal-foraminiferal bindstones,
coral heads preserved in situ with reef mollusks
similar to those inhabiting reefs on Guam today, and
coral breccias that form deep marine aprons along
the forereef slope (Schlanger, 1964; Tracey et al.,
1964). In the Quesnel terrane, allochthonous lime-
stone blocks represent the gravitational sliding and
downslope preservation of shallow marine reefs built
by sponges and corals in the Late Triassic (Stanley
and Nelson, 1996).
In arcs that exhibit extensive reef growth, the
development of fringing reefs is commonly associ-
ated with recently extinct, tropically situated vol-
canic islands that are undergoing slow thermal subsi-
dence (e.g., Schlanger, 1964). An initially narrow
submarine shelf develops adjacent to the conical
island on top of a steep antecedent topography (sub-
marine ramp) underlain by extrusive rocks and vol-
caniclastic detritus (Fig. 5). Fringing reefs, unlike
barrier reefs, do not enclose a significant lagoon
between the reef and the shore because the reefs
grow outward from the coast and form an incipient
shelf on top of steep submarine slopes (Nunn, 1994).
The shelf widens and expands laterally as the car-
bonate platform sinks on the subsiding volcanic
foundation. Reefs built by organisms at the shelf
margin experience seaward migration as the carbon-
ate platform undergoes progressive lateral expansion
and as long as corals, sponges and other reef-builders
can keep pace with subsidence on the outer shelf.
In the Alexander terrane, for example, a diversity
of Silurian megascopic frame-builders (stromato-
poroid sponges, corals and red algae) and microbial
binding organisms (mainly cyanobacteria) built a
localized fringing reef (stromatoporoid-coral rud-
stones in Fig. 4) at the incipient shelf edge during
early stages in carbonate platform development (Soja,
199 la>. Following a period of tectonic instability and
during rejuvenation of the shallow marine platform,
barrier reefs that were constructed by calcified mi-
crobes and sponges (stromatolite boundstones in Fig.
41 at the shelf margin enclosed a lagoon inhabited by
low-diversity invertebrate assemblages (Soja,
1991a, 1993). Other oceanic islands record the main-
tenance of reef growth within the photic zone at the
margins of incipient and mature platforms where
reef-building organisms kept pace with subsidence
during the evolutionary progression from fringing to
barrier reefs. For example, resedimented Miocene
deposits of Malekula Island in the New Hebrides
(Vanuatu) arc (Fig. 3) and modem hot spot islands in
French Polynesia (Society Islands) show the evolu-
tion and co-existence of nearshore fringing reefs and
barrier reefs, which developed on the outer shelf a
considerable distance from land (- 6-7 km)
(Mitchell, 1970; Chevalier, 1973).
Subsidence can also play a significant role in
inhibiting the growth of reefs. For example, coral
reefs have not formed on Bikini and Enewetak atolls

Fig. 5. Schematic diagrams showing evolution of limestones in island arcs: (A) incipient carbonate platform develops adjacent to submerged
volcanic cone; (B) late stage volcanism disrupts carbonate platform development and buries shallow marine limestones under volcaniclastic
detritus; (C) with the end of volcanism the volcanic edifice undergoes subsidence and erosion; carbonate platform development is renewed
with fringing reefs growing outwards from shore on top of a steep volcaniclastic ramp; (D) with continued subsidence barrier reefs form at
the seaward margin of the expanded shelf, enclose a shallow lagoon, and contribute reef detritus downslope; fringing reefs may continue to
form close to shore. After stage D, carbonate platform development may proceed to any (or all) of Stages E-G: (E) platform carbonates may
continue to accumulate to considerable thicknesses in an atoll; (F) rapid uplift caused by faulting may induce platform collapse, downslope
preservation of debris flows and slumps, and karst development on uplifted limestone terrain and (G) rapid rise in eustatic sea level or rapid
subsidence may cause drowning of the carbonate platform. Symbols as in Fig. 3.
42 CM Soja /Ear&Science
or adjacent to many islands in the Caribbean (West
Indies arc) because subsidence appears to be too
high (Ladd, 1973; Adey and Burke, 1977). The lack
of reefs in modem and ancient arc sequences has
been attributed to a variety of processes, including
high rates of subsidence that may have exceeded
6- 10 m 1000 yr- in the Wallowa terrane during the
Triassic (Whalen, 1988), global dearth of reef-build-
ing organisms in the Carboniferous (Watkins, 1993b),
abrupt drowning of the Miocene platform in the
Papua New Guinea arc (Stewart and Sandy, 1988)
rapid uplift of an Early Jurassic reef coupled with
ongoing pyroclastic influx in the Stikine (or Cache
Creek) terrane (Stanley and Beauvais, 1994; Stanley,
1996), and repeated burial by volcaniclastic detritus
during the Miocene in eastern Indonesian arcs
(Fulthorpe and Schlanger, 1989).
Gregory and Kroenke (1982) noted that shelf-
margin reefs of the Hawaiian Islands exhibit a pre-
dominance of vertical rather than lateral growth be-
cause of organismal response to relatively high rates
of subsidence. If subsidence does not outpace the
growth capabilities of reef-building organisms, reefs
on the outer shelf continue to thicken and develop
vertically (Schlanger et al., 1987). Stabilization in
relative sea level or gradual regression may induce
reefs to prograde seaward, as reflected in Pleistocene
reefs of Barbados affected by eustatic sea-level fluc-
tuations (Mesolella et al., 1970). Subsequent resump-
tion in volcanism may disrupt reef growth and result
in the downslope transport of reef-derived material.
For example, although some modem barrier reefs of
oceanic islands are 150-250 m thick (Gregory and
Kroenke, 1982) many are not preserved in situ in
arc sequences. Thus the presence of boundstone,
rudstone and framestone deposits may denote past
reef-building activities, but the stages in reef evolu-
tion may prove particularly challenging to recognize
in some island sequences if reef deposits do not exist
in situ (Schlanger, 1964; Mitchell, 1970; Hathway,
1994, 1995).
3.4. Well-developed lagoonal deposits
In modem arcs (and in other oceanic islands),
lagoons commonly are sheltered by reefs that grow
to sea level and form barriers on the outer shelf
(Fulthorpe and Schlanger, 1989). Lagoons also rep-
Reciews 41 f I9961 31-65
resent protected sites behind ridges constructed of
inorganic and (or) nonreefal carbonate material
(Chevalier, 1973). They have an average depth of
60-90 m, irregular bottom topography, and generally
are associated with extensive development of patch
and knoll reefs (Steers and Stoddart, 1973). Lagoons
are an important sink for carbonate material pro-
duced in situ and swept in by waves and currents
from the seaward edge of the platform. Hence, la-
goonal deposits tend to be particularly well devel-
oped in ancient arcs, where they compose a signifi-
cant part of platform sequences (Fig. 4) largely
because of the elevated rim at the platform margin
that both protects the platform interior (e.g., lagoon)
from sediment removal and promotes the in situ
production and accumulation of carbonate sediment
(Schlager, 1981; Bite and Stewart, 1990). For exam-
ple, lagoonal sediments are more than 600 m thick
on Enewetak atoll (Ladd, 1966) and are more than
1000 m thick near the Papua New Guinea arc
(Stewart and Sandy, 1988). Although many lagoonal
deposits are preserved in situ (Hall et al., 1988)
backreef or lagoonal carbonates, like reefs, can be
affected by volcanic eruptions, uplift within the arc,
and subsequent fragmentation, resulting in the redis-
tribution of shallow marine detritus downslope along
deep bathymetric gradients.
Because of their location between protective bar-
riers at the seaward edge of the shelf and the shore-
line where rivers discharge fresh water, lagoons typi-
cally are characterized by low-diversity biotas (Hath-
way, 1995) that are tolerant of quiet water condi-
tions, muddy substrates, and fluctuations in salinity,
temperature and oxygen concentrations. For exam-
ple, Silurian lime mudstones, wackestones and pack-
stones in the Alexander terrane are devoid of diverse,
normal marine faunas and characterized by altemat-
ing beds of oncoid-rich deposits and small coral-
stromatoporoid biostromes that record the effect of
sea-level oscillations on protected, lagoonal habitats
(Soja, 1990, 1991a) (Fig. 6). Similarly, a significant
proportion (more than 50% or 125 m) of the Lower
Devonian (Emsian) section exposed in the Alexander
terrane consists of lagoonal deposits comprising
monotonous sequences of packstones dominated by
restricted, low-diversity Amphipora-dominated com-
munities (Soja, 1988a). Eocene-Pleistocene lime-
stones that formed in protected lagoons on Guam are
 CM. Soja/Earth-Science Reviews 41(1996) 31-65 43

similar to modem lagoonal sediments on Guam and
comprise dense skeletal accumulations of forams and
calcareous algae, including locally abundant Hal-
imeda, associated with thickets of Porites and Acro-
pora in small patch reefs and with local concentra-
tions of coral, gastropod, echinoid and pelecypod
shells (Schlanger, 1964).
Diverse carbonate facies originate in island arcs
on evolving shallow marine platforms in a range of
environments that extend from supratidal-intertidal
mudflats to offshore, shallow subtidal sites on the
shelf (Fig. 5). In the absence of a lagoon, open shelf
deposits typically are characterized by an abundance
of lime mud and peloids (Fig. 41, insignificant
amounts of elastic detritus and species-rich assem-
blages of marine organisms (Whalen, 1988; Soja,
1993; Hathway, 1995). Eocene-Miocene limestones,
for example, that formed on an open shelf in Fiji
(eastern Melanesian arc) comprise mostly bioclastic
debris derived from coralline algae, corals, forams
and Halimeda (Hathway, 1994). Miocene arc de-
posits exposed near Papua New Guinea are also of
lagoonal or open shelf origin, as indicated by the
abundance of algae and forams preserved with bi-
valves, gastropods, echinoderms and a diverse as-
sortment of other invertebrates (Stewart and Sandy,
1988). Similar kinds of open shelf deposits are found
in accreted island terranes, including muddy skeletal
sands with diverse faunas and small biostromes but
no reefs that formed in the Permian Eastern Klamath
terrane (Watkins, 1985, 1993a) (Fig. 41, peloidal and
skeletal-peloidal Triassic limestones that accumu-
lated on a subsiding oceanic plateau in the Wrangel-
lia terrane (Armstrong et al., 19691, as well as
bioclastic grainstones, packstones, and bafflestones
representing small biogenic structures that formed in

C
r I I
P approxhately 50 km ,
A

fault blocks

B
P

:._
Fig. 6. Schematic diagrams showing rapid facies changes in island arcs: (A) rapid lateral and vertical facies changes produced during
subsidence of uplifted fault blocks in Miocene island arcs of offshore southeast Asia. Modified from Fulthorpe and Schlanger (1989); (B)
rapid lateral and vertical facies changes in Upper Paleozoic arc-related strata, Eastern Klamath terrane. Modified from Watkins (1985) and
(C) rapid lateral facies changes between coeval sections of Silurian platform carbonates located 1.3 km apart in the Alexander terrane.
Modified from Soja (1990). Symbols for A and B as in Fig. 3.
44 C.M. Soja / Earth-Screncr &crews 41 (1996) 31-65
the Triassic Wallowa terrane (Whalen, 1988). Al-
though particular backreef facies occur in many is-
land settings, lagoonal and shelf deposits represent
an important contribution to the enormous thickness
of platform sequences in many island arcs.
3.5. Abundant periplatform carbonates
A significant proportion of sediments forming
marine successions in many island arcs (and other
oceanic islands) accumulate as debris flows, slumps
and turbidites in deep water sites of preservation
(Fig. 3-5). Episodes of mass wasting are caused by
emergence and erosion of the volcanic edifice, sub-
marine slope failure, volcanic and tectonic (seismic)
activity, instability of oversteepened reefs at the shelf
margin, and major storms or tsunamis (Mitchell,
1970; Colwell and Tiffin, 1986; Collot and Fisher,
1991; Soja, 1990, 1991a; Folio, 1994; Hathway.
1994, 1995). Gravitational tectonics and vertical mo-
tion are particularly important in some arc com-
plexes where faulting induced massive collapse of
the carbonate platform and caused extensive redepo-
sition of limestones (Fig. 51, as represented by debris
flow aprons in the Miocene arc, Fiji (Hathway,
1995).
Much of the fragmented material associated with
catastrophic event sedimentation in island arcs
resided at least temporarily in shallow marine envi-
ronments before being displaced downslope
(Kokelaar et al., 1990). During rapid drowning of the
platform in the Alexander terrane, for example, the
shelf margin experienced erosion, collapse and sub-
sequent retreat. Fine-grained carbonate material de-
rived from the shelf and detached from its reefal
margin was mixed and transported downslope by
turbidity currents, slumps and debris flows (Soja,
1990, 1991a,1993) (Fig. 4). During emplacement of
conglomeratic debris flows and limestone blocks,
coarse reef-derived material deformed the underly-
ing, partially lithified turbidites. Individual clasts in
the breccias (debris flows) preserved downslope show
little modification in grain shape and limited particle
sorting, providing additional evidence of rapid depo-
sition and short distance of transport from shallow to
deep marine environments.
Similar redeposited limestones record the collapse
of tectonically unstable marine shelves in the
Solomon Islands (Vanuatu arc) (Coulson, 19851, rep-
resent the downslope transport of large boulders
(megamictites) and olistostromes detached from a
shallow marine escarpment during the Permian or
from a reefal margin in the Triassic in the Eastern
Klamath terrane (Watkins et al., 1987; Du et al.,
1992), and occur as a melange of gravity slides and
slumps in the Permo-Triassic Grindstone terrane,
where shallow marine shelf deposits underwent
downslope mixing with slope and basinal volcani-
elastics, cherts and siliceous mudstones (Blame and
Nestell, 199 1). These catastrophic sedimentation
events record ongoing tectonic instability and the
episodic mass transfer of carbonate material under
the influence of gravity along steep submarine slopes.
Reefs that form on the platform margin may even
enhance the downslope resedimentation of shallow
marine detritus by increasing the angle of the slope
to 36-46 through organic growth on the seaward
side of a reef (Nunn, 1994). Reef-boring organisms
may also contribute to the downslope mixing of
shallow and deep water detritus through bioerosion,
which may produce highly bored reef material that is
susceptible to high energy events (e.g., storms), sub-
marine avalanches (Niem, 1989) and earthquakes.
In some instances, resedimented deposits may
provide the only indication that carbonate material
was originally deposited in shallow marine zones.
For example, carbonate debris flows and turbidites
comprising highly fragmented skeletal remains in
bioclastic wackestones and packstones are the only
indicators that carbonate banks flourished under shal-
low marine conditions in the Middle Devonian Ken-
nett Formation of the Eastern Klamath terrane
(Watkins and Flory, 1986). Evidence that Eocene
reefs existed on Guam before periods of explosive
volcanism is derived from foreslope and basinal
deposits where carbonate fragments in debris flows
are interbedded with tuffaceous sandstones, shales
and pillow lavas (Stark, 1963; Schlanger, 1964).
Similarly in Miocene arc deposits of Malekula Island
(Vanuatu arc), in situ preservation of shallow marine
limestones is rare (Fig. 3) and fringing reefs are
represented as coral-algal fragments and clasts in
deep marine talus, debris flows and limestone tur-
bidites (Mitchell, 1970; Mitchell and Reading, 197 1).
The prevalence of submarine transport and slump-
ing in foreslope environments adjacent to many
 C.M. Soja / Earth-Science
oceanic islands suggests that shallow marine lime-
stones may not survive intact in many island arcs
because of destructive geologic processes. Deep ma-
rine carbonate debris flows and olistostromes, for
example, may record the downslope collapse of a
shallow marine platform induced by normal faulting
during the encroachment and accretion of a lime-
stone-capped seamount to a continental margin
(Kanmera et al., 1990; Sano and Kanmera, 1991a,b).
Thus periplatform carbonates may enhance carbonate
platform development because of the progradation
and lateral expansion of carbonate material that re-
sult from extensive resedimentation downslope and
rapid burial in deep marine environments. Periplat-
form carbonates provide an important, albeit frag-
mented, record of the wide range of carbonate facies
that formed in shallow marine conditions on the
shelf and may yield important clues to changing
tectonic conditions as an island migrates from an
intra-oceanic to convergent margin setting (Sano and
Kanmera, 1988).
3.6. Rapid facies change
Because island arcs occur in zones of repeated,
localized volcanism and are affected by rapid verti-
cal changes caused by crustal movements and sea-
level fluctuations, limestones typically exhibit com-
plex facies relationships that result in part from the
rapid deposition of very thick accumulations of car-
bonate material associated with diverse volcaniclas-
tic (pyroclastic and epiclastic) and siliciclastic de-
posits low in quartz. For example, several 1000 m of
arc sediments accumulated rapidly in the New He-
brides (Vanuatu arc) in less than 10 m.y. (Mitchell
and Reading, 1971), and Tertiary limestones on
Guam are associated with more than 600 m of
diverse facies types, including tuffaceous sandstones,
shales, pillow lavas, volcaniclastics, breccias and
conglomerates (Reagan and Meijer, 1984). Irma-arc
rifting during periods of volcanic and tectonic quies-
cence can enhance the accumulation and preserva-
tion of carbonates in fault-bounded, anoxic or silled
basins and result in complex facies relationships
developed over relatively short distances (e.g., few
10s of km) (Fuhhorpe and Schlanger, 1989) (Fig. 6).
These fault-block basins shield the accumulating car-
bonates from influxes of volcaniclastic debris, pro-
Reviews 41 (19%) 31-65 45
vide antecedent topography for reef growth, and act
as large subsiding sinks for thick accumulations of
sediment (Dickinson, 1973; Bjorlykke, 1974; Gre-
gory and Kroenke, 1982; Neef and Hendy, 1988;
Fulthorpe and Schlanger, 1989). Pliocene sediments
show rapid facies transitions in the Solomon Islands
arc, for example, because they developed in a topo-
graphically complex area of emergent volcanic is-
lands and deep sea basins (Coulson, 1985).
Hathway (1994) noted that the localized occur-
rence of tectonic or volcanic events in island arcs
produces sedimentary facies that have little or no
vertical and lateral organization. Studies of arcs in
the Caribbean region and elsewhere show that the
migration of active volcanic centers generates com-
plex interfingerings of volcanic and sedimentary de-
posits expressed laterally and vertically (Lame et al.,
199 1). Rapid lateral facies changes in conglomerates,
volcaniclastics and reef-derived carbonates represent
the evolution of several volcanic centers in the Van-
uatu arc (Carney et al., 1985). Similar examples exist
in Paleozoic rocks of the Eastern Klamath terrane,
where intercalated volcaniclastic and limestone de-
posits exhibit complex facies relationships that re-
flect carbonate platform development during the De-
vonian on individual volcanic edifices in an area of
rugged seafloor topography. Rapid facies change
during the Carboniferous is also evident in discontin-
uous lenses of limestones that were established on
migrating delta lobes during a period of volcanic
inactivity. The later diachronous establishment of
carbonate platforms on topographic highs during de-
position of the McCloud Limestone in the Early
Permian is reflected in rapid lateral facies changes
expressed over 8-10 km (Watkins, 1985, 1990,
1993b; Watkins and Wilson, 1989) (Fig. 6). Simi-
larly, Silurian island-arc carbonates from the Alexan-
der terrane are characterized by great lateral variabil-
ity evident between stratigraphic sections separated
by 1.3 km (Fig. 6) and by vertical changes in facies
involving, for example, rapid transitions from
nearshore conglomerates to deep marine turbidites
expressed over N 150 m of stratigraphic section
(Soja, 1990) (Fig. 4). Many distinctive lithofacies in
the Alexander terrane have limited spatial distribu-
tion. For example, a fringing reef developed locally
on one edge of the incipient shelf, conglomeratic
beds have restricted occurrence, and limestone brec-
46 CM. Soja / Earth-Science Herlew.7 41 (19961 31-65
cias represent the localized emplacement along the
slope of debris flows and slumps derived from the
shelf and its margin during platform erosion and
collapse. Similar lateral variability evident in disper-
sal patterns of sediment characterize other ancient
arc sequences where volcanic and sedimentary facies
have complex intetfmgering relationships (Mitchell
and Reading, 1969; Mitchell, 1970; Galloway, 19741.
4. Paleontologic characteristics
4.1. Introduction
Island biotas hold a special place in geologic and
evolutionary studies because of the important in-
sights they provide into patterns and processes of
speciation, adaptive radiation and extinction and bio-
geography in insular settings (MacArthur and Wil-
son, 1967; Cox and Moore, 1985; Grigg and Hey,
1992). Despite the intense interest in island faunas
and floras, many marine island-arc organisms, mod-
em and ancient, remain poorly understood. In con-
trast, marine inhabitants of many isolated islands or
archipelagos of hot spot or divergent plate origin
have received considerable attention, including the
South Atlantic islands of Ascension and St. Helena
(Rosewater, 1975; Pawson, 1978; Menard, 19861, the
Galapagos in the eastern Pacific (James, 1991;
Malmquist, 1991; Paulay. 1992), and islands in the
south and central Pacific, including French Polyne-
sia, and Bikini and Enewetak atolls in the Marshall
Islands (Ladd, 1966; Ladd, 1982; Paulay, 1985, 1990)
(Fig. 2). In Hawaii, for example, intensive efforts
were launched recently to undertake the most com-
prehensive biological survey of a single biogeo-
graphic entity (Eldredge and Miller, 1995). Because
marine biotas from hot spot islands and archipelagos
evolved under physical, geomorphologic and biogeo-
graphic conditions similar to those in other offshore
islands, these hot spot biotas can serve to some
degree as proxies for understanding the biological
aspects of island-arc organisms.
Recent research on fossils from accreted island
terranes in the North American Cordillera and else-
where has been fueled by attempts to corroborate
paleomagnetic evidence for the origin and displace-
ment histories of the terranes by measuring paleolon-
gitude based on generic diversity patterns (Belasky
and Runnegar, 1994), to reconstruct the paleobio-
geography of ancient oceans (Smith et al., 19901, to
test tectonic displacement (vicariance) vs. dispersal
(centers of origin) models to explain modem biogeo-
graphic patterns (Veron, 1985; Stanley, 1994), and to
ascertain the implications of ancient island biotas for
evolutionary theory and post-mass extinction recov-
eries (Soja, 1992; Stanley, 1996). These Cordilleran
studies reveal the existence of diverse island biotas
that are well preserved in a variety of sedimentary
facies representative of a wide range of submarine
environments. For example, Ordovician-Pennsyl-
vanian deposits in the Alexander terrane are charac-
terized by a remarkably continuous fossil record and
represent one of the most complete island-arc se-
quences known in the ancient geologic record
(Eberlein et al., 1983; Gehrels and Saleeby, 1987).
Many invertebrate and vertebrate (conodont) groups
are well preserved in the Alexander terrane despite
their origin in a volcanic complex that experienced
orogenesis at the end of the Silurian and later was
accreted to the North American craton (Soja,
1991a,b). Similarly, fossils are found in intertidal,
lagoonal, reef, slope and basinal deposits that formed
adjacent to other island-arc volcanoes, such as the
Mariana Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji (Ladd, 1966, 1982;
Vermeij et al., 1983), and those now accreted as
terranes (Fig. 1, 2; Table 1).
As might be expected, many organisms and pale-
oecological associations are not preserved in situ in
these island settings because they were subjected to
the same physical processes described above that
resulted in information loss in sediments being trans-
ported from shallow to deep marine environments. In
addition because of the unique geologic histories
associated with individual islands, island biotas at
generic and species levels show a high degree of
variability with respect to diversity, levels of en-
demism and provincial affinities. However, funda-
mental similarities exist, particularly in those faunas
that evolved in biogeographic isolation at sites that
were separated from continental or other source ar-
eas by more than 1000 km or that were unfavorably
situated with respect to ocean currents that transports
teleplanic (planktotrophic) larvae from nearby conti-
nents. Largely as a result of their biogeographic
isolation, island biotas exhibit relatively high levels
 CM. Soja /Earth-Science Reviews 41 (1996) 31-65 47

of species endemism and are characterized by rela-
tively impoverished faunas in normal marine envi-
ronments, complex provincial affinities and relict
populations (Table 2).
4.2. High levels of endemism
Island biotas comprise populations that are com-
posed of a significant percentage of organisms en-
demic, or confined, to that site or island group, with
highest proportions found on large, remote island
archipelagos (Diamond, 1984; Simon, 1987). Terres-
trial faunas and floras on islands record the highest
percentages of endemics (> 90% on Hawaii, for
example), but marine organisms also have apprecia-
ble levels of endemism that are substantially higher
than most comparable biotas from continental mar-
gins (32% for Hawaiian biotas vs. N 10% in Aus-
tralia and other continental shelves) (Veron, 1985;
Kay and Palumbi, 1987).
As shown in Tables 3 and 4, levels of endemism
among invertebrates inhabiting shallow marine envi-

Table 3
Estimates of endemism in selected marine invertebrates from island arcs

Locality Age Invertebrate class % Endemic species Reference

(Genera)

Alexander terrane Early Dev brachiopods 25 Savage (1981)

Early Dev brachiopods 39 Soja (1988~)
Late Dev brachiopods 95 Savage et al. ( 19781
Miss-Penn algae 6 Mamet and Pinard (1985)
Belau (Palau) Modem sponges Briggs (1974)
Celtic (Iapetus) Early Ord brachiopods (4: Neuman (1984)
Eastern Klamath terrane Early Perm brachiopods Stevens et al. (1990)
corals (3: Stevens et al. (1990)
fusulinids (7) Stevens et al. (19901
New Hebrides (Vanuatu) Modem bivalves 38 Solem (1959)
gastropods Solem (1959)
New South Wales (Australia) Late Ord brachiopods (3:; Webby (1992)
sponges 93 (84) Webby (1992)
trilobites (9) Webby ( 1992)
New Zealand Modern brachyuran crabs 53 Knox (1980)
echinoderms 83 Knox (1980)
Solomon Islands Modem bivalves 40 Solem (19591
gastropods 45 Solem (19591
Stikine or Cache Creek terrane Late Triassic sponges 17 Senowbari-Daryan and Reid
(1987)
Wallowa terrane Triassic bivalves 36 Newton (1987)
corals 12.5-19 Stanley and Whalen (1989);
Stanley (1986)
spongiomorphs 44-67 Stanley and Whalen (1989);
Stanley (1986)
sponges 50 Senowbari-Daryan and
Stanley (19881
algae 100 Flllgel et al. (19891
M Jurassic corals 50 Stanley and Beauvais (1990)
West Indies (all islands) Modem echinoderms 15.5 Briggs (1974)
mollusks 24.3 Briggs ( 1974)
ophiuroids 25.5 Briggs (19741
West Indies Neogene gastropods 79-95 Jung and Petit (1990)
(Dominican Republic)
corals 4 Foster (1986)
West Indies (Jamaica) Modern corals 5 Goreau and Wells ( 1967)
West Indies Modem gastropods 65 Vermeij (1973)
(CuraGao, Guadeloupe, Jamaica)
48 CM. Sqja / Earth-Science Rec,itw.s 41 f 1996131-65

ronments adjacent to offshore oceanic islands tend to
be high but are also variable, presumably because of
differences in evolutionary rates, larval competency,
oceanographic circulation patterns and processes re-
sponsible for creating disjunct, relict populations
(Fig. 7). For example, more than 50% of marine
mollusks are unique to St. Helena, which originated
as a hot spot 20 m.y. ago in the Miocene (Briggs.
1974; Menard, 1986) (Fig. 2, Table 4). In contrast,
only 4% of echinoderms and 9% of marine mollusks
are endemic to Ascension Island, also located in the
South Atlantic (1100 km northwest of St. Helena),
probably because of insufficient time for speciation
to produce a notable percentage of endemic taxa
since Ascensions origin as a Pleistocene hot spot
approximately 1 m.y. ago (Briggs, 1974; Rosewater,
1975; Pawson, 1978) (Fig. 2, Table 4). Similar low
proportions of endemic coral species (8%) in the
Society Islands and Tuamotus and of endemic mol-
lusks (15%) in the Marquesas Islands probably re-
stilted from currents and temperature differences that
are unfavorable for larval transport, low nutrient
levels, fluctuations in sea level that disrupted reef
and backreef habitats during the Pleistocene, or in-
sufficient time for intensive speciation since the
Pleistocene (Bagnis and Christian, 1977; Veron,
1985; Paulay, 1985, 1990) (Fig. 2, Table 4).
In contrast, Easter Island, a 2-2.5 m.y. old hot

Table 4
Estimates of endemism in selected marine invertebrates from hot spot islands

Locality Distance Island age (m.y.) Invertebrate class % Endemic Reference

(km) species
(General
Ascension Is. 2800 -I echinoderms 4 Pawson (1978)
mollusk\ 9 Rosewater (1975)
Clipperton Is. 1000 3-2.Y hrachyuran crab% 0 Briggs (I 974)
echinoderm5 0 Jamesll99ll
mollusk\ 5 Briggs ( I9741
cocos Is. 500 222.5 bryoroanh 0 Briggs (I 974)
echinoderms 9 James (1991)
mollusk\ 5 Briggs ( I9741
Easter Is. 4000 2-7.5 mollusks 42 Briggs (I 976) Menard (1986)
Galapagos Is. 1000 IO-IS hivalvcs h-7 James ( 199 I); Malmquist (1992)
hrachyuran crabs IS James (1991)
bryozoans IX James (1991)
echinoderms I7 James(l991)
gastropod\ 20 James (1991)
mollusks 18 Jamea(l991)
Hawaii 4500 O-h + all launas 32 Kay and Palumbi (1987)
hpongch 29 Eldredge and Miller (I 995)
corals I2 Eldredge and Miller (1995)
platyhelminthea 49 Eldredge and Miller (I 995)
gastropods 21 Eldredge and Miller (1995)
bivalve\ 51 Eldredge and Miller (1995)
cephalopods 3 Eldredge and Miller (I 995)
crinoids 94 Eldredge and Miller (1995)
echinoid\ 37 Eldredge and Miller (1995)
Marquesas Is. 5000 - 40 mollusk\ IS Salvat and Rives (1984)
Society Is./ 6400 - 40 corals (8) Paulay (1985)
Tuamotus
mollusks 8 Salvat and Rives (I 984)
COrdIS I2 Chevalier (1981)
St. Helena Is. 2000 20 decapods 17 Briggs ( 1974)
echinoderms 50 Menard (1986)
mollusks 52 Briggs (I 974)

* = distance from closest continent

 C.M. Soja/Earth-Science
A tions in brachiopods become progressively higher
simultaneous
T extinction
Time
- Geographic distribution--+
1B r final extinction
t are endemic to eastern Oregon (Fig. 8). Devonian
Titne
- Geographic distribution4
Fig. 7. Diagrammatic models showing evolution of endemic taxa:
(A) barriers to larval dispersal and migration (dashed lines) of
cosmopolites lead to in situ speciation of endemic taxa in isolation
and (B) cosmopolites suffer extinction in most areas, but endemic
taxa persist as relicts following contraction in geographic or
ecologic ranges. Modified from Boucot (1975).
spot located more than 2000 km from the closest
island or continent, harbors a significant proportion
(42%) of endemics in its marine mollusks, which
appear to be relicts that were formerly more
widespread on submerged guyots nearby (Menard,
1986). Low levels of endemism on Belau (Palau) and
in the Vanuatu arc are attributed to a lack of repro-
ductive isolation caused by currents transporting lar-
vae from nearby source areas (Diamond, 1984) (Fig.
2, Table 3). Grigg (1988) suggested that episodic
recolonization from the Indo-West Pacific region
accounts for the relatively low rates of endemism
( N 20%) in Hawaiian corals.
Although research on living and fossil biotas from
island arcs lags behind those of organisms inhabiting
intraplate sites of volcanism, preliminary data from
marine faunas in island-arc terranes of the North
American Cordillera yield proportions of endemic
taxa with a range of variability similar to modern
biotas on offshore oceanic islands (Table 3, 4). Com-
plete fauna1 assemblages have not been examined,
but studies show that Carboniferous algae from the
Alexander terrane exhibit a low endemic percentage
(6%; Mamet and Pinard, 1985), whereas brachiopods
from the same terrane comprise a substantial compo-
nent of endemic species (Table 3). Endemic propor-
Reviews 41 (1996) 31-65 49
from the Early through Late Devonian, with 25%
recorded in Pragian faunas, 39% in Emsian faunas
and 95% during the Famennian (Table 3), a very
high level of endemism which is matched by early
Permian brachiopods (90%) from the Eastern Kla-
math terrane (see also Fig. 3 in Soja, 1992; Stevens
et al., 1990). In the Wallowa terrane, relatively
low-diversity assemblages of Late Triassic inverte-
brates show that 12.5-19% of coral species, 36% of
bivalves species and 44-67% of spongiomorph taxa
brachiopod and Carboniferous algae from the
Alexander terrane also exhibit a wide range in en-
demic components from 6-95% (Table 3).
4.3. Impoverished, normal marine faunas
Marine species endemic to single oceanic islands
or archipelagos typically form impoverished, rela-
tively low-diversity populations that evolved from a
small proportion of the worlds higher taxa. Thus
island biotas generally comprise high levels of en-
demism at the species level but a depauperate num-
ber of endemic genera and families as well as low
abundances and densities of individual organisms.
Jablonski and Flessa (1986) showed that 87% of
global shallow marine families of modem gas-
tropods, bivalves and echinoids are inhabitants of at
least 22 of the worlds oceanic islands. Their data
also reveal that these islands harbor an average
30-40% of the maximum number of families repre-
sented at continental shelf sites; thus relatively low
proportions of globally distributed genera or families
characterize biotas that evolve in insular settings
(Kay and Palumbi, 1987; Simon, 1987). For exam-
0
E NA SA NAT T J-S
Fig. 8. Histogram showing biogeography of Late Triassic bivalve
species in the Wallowa terrane, expressed as percent of taxa with
these affinities: E endemic: NA North America; SA South Amer-
ica: NAT North American terranes; T Tethys and J-S Japan-
Siberia. Modified from Malmquist (1991, 1992).
50 CM. Soju/ Earth-Science Reviews 41 (19%) 31-65

45 species that inhabited shelf environments, except for

. . . . . . species
--geneta
I Famennian
30-
Number
of
Taxa
15
LP LPEEGFF T S EM ley and Whalen, 1989). Only two coral species form-
Devonian ckmiferous
Fig. 9. Diversity of Silurian through Carboniferous brachiopods
from the Alexander tenane. Strophomenids are not included in
Carboniferous data. Stages correspond to those in Harland et al.
(1990). Modified from Soja (1992) and Savage and Baxter (1995).
ple, invertebrates reported from the 80 m.y. old
Cross Seamount located 250 km south of Oahu,
Hawaii, have low abundance, low density, and com-
prise low diversity assemblages of gorgonians, which
represent a small percentage (14%) of those found in
the surrounding region. These characteristics are at-
tributed to the difficulty in colonizing a small habit-
able area that is geographically isolated and has been
susceptible to environmental disturbances (Grigg et
al., 1987).
Compilation of brachiopod data from the Alexan-
der terrane shows that initially impoverished faunas
of very low diversity (< 10 species; Fig. 9) and low
abundance (for example, Atrypoidea individuals
scattered on bedding surfaces or localized in small
clusters) inhabited normal marine environments on
the shelf in the Silurian. Similarly Savage and Baxter
(1995) noted a sparcity of individual brachiopods
and conodonts in the Upper Devonian (Frasnian)
Wadleigh Formation of the Alexander terrane. A
comparison of speciation patterns among Early De-
vonian brachiopods in the Alexander terrane from
quiet water shelf environments reveals that the diver-
sity of brachiopods increased from Silurian levels
but was much lower than in coeval brachiopod as-
semblages, which occupied a similar suite of envi-
ronments in cratonic North America (Nevada) (John-
son, 1990; Soja, 1992). Diversification patterns in
Silurian-Carboniferous brachiopods exhibit an in-
crease in the number of brachiopod genera and
a significant decline in the number of taxa during the
(Fig. 9) but the overall diversity of
Alaskan brachiopods was never as high as in coeval
faunas that evolved in cratonic sites (e.g., Nevada)
(see Fig. 2 in Soja, 1992).
In the Wallowa terrane, Late Triassic sphincto-
zoan sponges, dasycladacean algae, foraminifers and
coral reefs are inexplicably rare, comprising low-di-
versity assemblages (Stanley, 1986; Senowbari-
Daryan and Stanley, 1988; Fliigel et al., 1989; Stan-
ing thin biostromes occur in the Wallowa terrane
during the Middle Jurassic when the island arc is
postulated to have been in proximity to the Western
Interior Seaway (Stanley and Beauvais, 1990; Val-
lier, 1995). Early-Middle Ordovician islands in the
Celtic province of the Iapetus Ocean also harbored
depauperate generic assemblages of brachiopods with
an average of 7 genera per island site (Neuman,
1984). Thus, the reduced levels of diversity in these
island biotas reflect the difficulties encountered by
potential colonizers that migrated to smaller habit-
able areas from nearby or distant source areas.
4.4. Complex prouincial afinities
Most of the worlds islands occur in the Pacific
Ocean and many form part of the vast Indo-West
Pacific (IWP) province, which has the richest diver-
sity of the four tropical, shallow marine biogeo-
graphic provinces in existence today (Briggs, 1973;
Vermeij, 1978; Diamond, 1982). The East Pacific,
which is largely devoid of islands except at locations
scattered along its eastern margin (Fig. 2) is a deep
marine barrier that separates the IWP from the East-
em Pacific province. With its considerable width
(> 5400 km) and lack of island stepping stones,
the East Pacific barrier has been the worlds most
effective inhibitor to dispersal of shallow marine
taxa since the early Cenozoic (Grigg and Hey, 1992;
Paulay, 1992) (Fig. 10). In tropical shelf echino-
derms, for example, approximately 2% of species
and only 14% of genera have undergone successful
transoceanic dispersal across the East Pacific barrier
(Grigg and Hey, 1992).
 C.M. Soja/Earth-Science Reviews 41(1996) 31-65 51

M&agos
Modem taxa with IWP affinities dominate on most
29 46 61 12 17 2Fwestern
Cellnal Pacific islands but show an eastward decrease in the
America diversity of IWP taxa associated with variable pro-
portions of amphi-Pacific, Eastern Pacific, and en-
demic taxa (Briggs, 1974; Veron, 1985, 1995; New-
ton, 1988). Of the 500 species of reef corals that
exist in the IWP, for example, only 43 species occur
in Hawaii and 21 species are known in the eastern
Pacific (including the Galapagos and Cocos Island),
I I indicating that < 4% of reef-building corals have an
Fig. 10. Dendrogram based on cluster analysis of scleractinian amphiPacific distribution (Grigg, 1988; Grigg and
corals in the central and eastern Pacific showing provincial affrni- Hey, 1992). Debates continue about the origin of
ties, geographic ranges of species, and attenuation in species Pacific basin biogeography with disagreements fo-
diversity in the eastern Pacific (modified from Veron, 1995). Note cused on the influence of transoceanic distances,
high affinity among Galapagos and western Central American
temperature and current directions or rates on the
corals and low affinity between central and eastern Pacific taxa.
Numbers indicate total coral species at each location. Classifica- competency of planktotrophic (teleplanic) larvae. For
tion procedure is described in Veron (1995). Island locations are example, vicariance models postulate that the con-
in Fig. 2. struction of barriers produces disjunct organismal
distribution patterns within a once contiguous region,
Because most Pacific islands lie at considerable whereas models describing Darwinian centers of ori-
distances (> 2000 km) from the heart of the IWP gin envisage the outward, long distance and attenu-
near Indonesia, their biotas are characterized by ated radiation of taxa from a common, rich evolu-
complex biogeographic patterns (Briggs, 1974). tionary source (Briggs, 1973; Croizat et al., 1974;

Table 5
Paleobiogeographic affinities of tabulate corals from island-arc terranes in northern California. Modified from Potter et al. (1990a)

Genus Nn Sierra terrane Yreka terrane APP~. Eur. Urals Sib. NE Russia Altai China Aust

Late Ordovician
Tetradium X X X X X X
Quepora X X X X
Propora X X x x x x X
Plasmoporella X X X X X X
Chaetetella X X
Paleofavosites X X x x x x X X X

Silurian (Wenlockian)
Fauosites X x x x x X X X
Squameofavosites X X X
Syringopora X x x x x X X X
Heliolites X x x x x X X X
Multisolenia X x x x x X X X
Halysites X x x x x X X X

Silurian (Ludlovian)
Fauosites X x x x x X X X
Squameofafiosites X X X
Thamnopora X X

Appl. = Appalachians: Eur. = Europe; Sib. = Siberia; Altai = Altai Mountains in Mongolia, northwest China, and south-central Sib&a;
Aust. = Australia; X = present in area.
52 C.M. Soju /Earth-Science
Dana, 1975; Heck and McCoy, 1978; Cox and Moore,
1985; Grigg and Hey, 1992; Paulay, 1992).
Biotas from island terranes typically comprise
mixtures of taxa that are not generally found together
in the same fauna1 assemblages and have affinities
with disparate regions of the globe (Fig. 8, Table 5).
Many invertebrates from these arc terranes form
either cosmopolitan or provincial (endemic) faunas
or exhibit affinities that are inconsistent among dif-
ferent invertebrate clades. Thus these fauna1 assem-
blages typically do not yield consistent paleobiogeo-
graphic signatures for determining where particular
arcs were located with respect to circum-Pacific
continents (Soja, 1992). Although it has been diffi-
cult to circumscribe the past location of these islands
in ancient ocean basins based on provincial affinities
(e.g., Newton, 1988) recent work by Belasky and
Runnegar (1993, 1994) suggests that statistical
trend-surface analyses of modern and Permian coral
diversities can be correlated with paleomagnetic evi-
dence to postulate probable paleogeographic loca-
tions of the Wrangellia, Stikine and Eastern Klamath
terranes. In addition, fossils have been used in these
and other studies to determine biogeographic links
among Cordilleran terranes and with cratonic North
America, but debates persist about the ancient loca-
tions of terranes now accreted to western North
America (Nichols and Silberling, 1979; Newton,
1983; Potter et al., 1990a,b; Stanley and Beauvais,
1990; Malmquist, 1991, 1992; Stanley and Vallier,
1992; Belasky and Runnegar, 1994; Soja, 1994:
Bazard et al., 1995).
In the Alexander terrane, brachiopods predomi-
nate in many of the lower-middle Paleozoic fauna1
assemblages and are largely preserved in situ in
shallow subtidal deposits that originated on the shelf.
In addition to relatively high levels of species-level
endemism expressed in some Lower Devonian fau-
nas, brachiopod assemblages have distinctive biogeo-
graphic characters because they comprise new gen-
era and new communities not described elsewhere,
taxa previously thought to be restricted to Europe,
Asia and Australia, and a notable lack of genera
typical of coeval assemblages in the Cordilleran
region (Soja, 1988b; Soja, 1988~). Other faunas from
the Alexander terrane are remarkably cosmopolitan
in aspect (Savage, 1990). Mixtures of North Ameri-
can, Tethyan and endemic genera characterize Car-
Rec~iews 41 (19%) 31-65
boniferous algal microfloral assemblages from the
Alexander terrane. Foraminiferal assemblages from
the same Carboniferous formation (Peratrovich) are
relatively undiversified; they consist of Tethyan taxa
that are generally underrepresented or unknown in
North America and are notably lacking forms that
are diagnostic of the Tethyan region (e.g., En-
dostaflella and Forschiella, among others) (Mamet
and Pinard, 1985).
Early Ordovician invertebrates, including corals,
from island-arc terranes in northern California ex-
hibit mixed (and variable) affinities with organisms
generally found in disparate fauna1 provinces, such
as northern Europe/Asia, Australia and eastern North
America (Potter et al., 1990a) (Table 5). Variable
affinities are also expressed in younger marine fau-
nas from the Eastern Klamath terrane. For example,
brachiopods and bivalves of Carboniferous age show
highest affinities with Asia whereas early Permian
corals have mainly North American affinities
(Stevens et al., 1987). Mixed paleobiogeographic
signatures are also recorded in Late Triassic corals,
spongiomorph taxa, and bivalves from the Wallowa
terrane (Newton, 1987; Stanley and Whalen, 1989;
Malmquist, 1991) (Fig. 8). Sphinctozoans in Upper
Triassic sponge reefs of the Stikine (or Cache Creek)
terrane form a mixed assemblage that includes North
American endemics, taxa that were previously known
to exist only in the Tethys or Tethyan-North Ameri-
can reg;sn, and the first North American appearance
of a significant proportion of genera (25%) and
species (50%) (Senowbari-Daryan and Reid, 1987;
Stanley, 1996).
Similar biogeographic patterns are expressed in
brachiopods that evolved on Ordovician islands in
the Iapetus Ocean now found as terranes in eastern
North America and the U.K. (Neuman, 1972, 1984;
Bruton and Harper, 1985) (Fig. 2). These faunas of
Celtic province are characterized by high proportions
of endemic genera (46% of 41 genera), youngest
occurrences of genera found elsewhere, and mixtures
of Baltic, North American and Anglo-Welsh genera
not found together elsewhere (Neuman, 1972, 1984).
The earliest occurrences of genera found in other
provinces (younger Scoto-Appalachian assem-
blages) suggest that these island faunas were ances-
tral stocks that gave rise to younger faunas on the
North American continent. Neuman (1972) envi-
 C.M. Soja/Earth-Science
sioned that subduction of oceanic crust brought is-
lands in the Iapetus Ocean within close enough
proximity (< 3500 km) to cratonic sites to enable
episodic, selective migration of marine invertebrates.
Similarly, conspecific corals that occur in Middle
Jurassic rocks of western Idaho (Wallowa terrane)
and the Western Interior Seaway suggest proximity
of the Wallowa terrane to western North America
and geographic separation from the Tethys (Stanley
and Beauvais, 1990; White et al., 1992).
4.5. Relict populations
Offshore oceanic islands have been regarded in
the past by some scientists as museums of obso-
lete or primitive taxa that survived as relicts of past
historical events (Knox, 1980; Menard, 1986; Case
and Cody, 1987). Modem perspectives embrace a
more expansive view of oceanic islands as dynamic
evolutionary laboratories and as sanctuaries,
where speciation occurs relatively rapidly, producing
evolutionary novelties within distinctive biotas, and
where protracted survivorship is enhanced during
and following times of ecologic crisis (Stanley, 1979;
Menard, 1986; Case and Cody, 1987). Relict biotas
represent those taxa that were formerly more
widespread but became endemic to a protected re-
gion, or refuge, following an extinction event else-
where. Organisms are regarded as relicts if they are
presently endemic to a particular region (island or
island group) because of contraction in ecologic or
geographic range (rather than because of in situ
evolution) or if they had been geographically more
widespread before disappearing from the fossil record
as a long dwindling group endemic to a restricted
region or habitat (Jablonski, 1985; Vermeij, 1986)
(Fig. 7).
Although most reports are anecdotal in nature,
preliminary data exist that suggest oceanic islands,
including island arcs, may have provided safe havens
in the geologic past for some shallow marine benthic
organisms. Immunity from extinction for some ma-
rine taxa has been attributed to protection within
areas that did not experience significant qualitative
habitat loss or were exposed to fewer catastrophic
fluctuations in temperature and sea level (Vermeij,
1978; Stanley, 1988; Paulay, 1990; Soja, 1992; Stan-
Reviews 41 (19%) 31-65 53
ley and Beauvais, 1994). For example, Paulay (1990)
suggested that late Cenozoic inner reef specialists
(bivalves), which suffered geographic contraction to
refuges in the western Pacific, aided in repopulating
other islands, such as those in the central Pacific that
were adversely affected by inner reef habitat loss
during Pleistocene sea-level fluctuations. Stanley and
Beauvais (1994) suggested that volcanic islands in
the Stikine terrane served as a refuge for Triassic
holdover (Lazarus) survivors, which constructed the
earliest known Jurassic coral reef after the end Trias-
sic global extinction event abruptly curtailed reef
building.
That island arcs in the geologic past were sanctu-
aries where some taxa enjoyed protracted persistence
is also suggested by the significant percentage (16%)
of Devonian brachiopods that had been widespread
in Nevada and other parts of North America (and
elsewhere) but became geographically restricted to
the Alexander terrane before suffering extinction
there (Soja, 1992). Similarly, a notable percentage
(28%) of holdover taxa, which represent the youngest
records of five formerly more widespread sphincto-
zoan species, occurs in the Upper Triassic of south-
em Yukon (Stikine or Cache Creek terrane)
(Senowbari-Daryan and Reid, 1987; Stanley, 1996).
The collection of more robust data in future research,
which compares the ecologic and geographic ranges
of taxa in island and non-island habitats, may pro-
vide more substantive evidence to show if relict
biotas had preferential survival in island refugia be-
cause of their immunity to environmental distur-
bances and if island survivors played a significant
role in the global recovery of marine communities
following mass extinctions (Vermeij, 1978; Soja,
1992; Stanley, 1993, 1996).
5. Discussion
5.1. Model for limestone formation in island arcs
Sedimentary units that form in tectonically active
island settings show significant variability in lithol-
ogy and biologic composition and thus have great
potential for being considerably complex (Hamilton,
1988; Lame et al., 1991). In island arcs, sedimentary
 54 CM. Sbja / Eurth-Science
complexity results in part from the diversity of depo-
sitional environments that form in an area of highly
variable topography (Watkins and Flory, 1986;
Fulthorpe and Schlanger, 1989). It also reflects the
range of physical, tectonic and biological processes
that affect volcanic islands from early to late stages
in their development, including potential biological
source areas for and abundance of lime-secreting
organisms, initial water depth associated with the
incipient evolution of a submarine edifice, and vari-
able rates of subsidence, uplift and volcanic aggrada-
tion (Lame et al., 1991).
Data from Paleozoic-Mesozoic displaced terranes
in western North America and from modem sites
suggest a sequence of events associated with carbon-
ate platform development in arc settings that enables
island-arc carbonates to be differentiated from other
platform limestones (Fig. 5). Lava flows and vol-
caniclastic detritus generally predominate over rela-
tively minor, intercalated limestone deposits in
youthful island arcs that are experiencing ongoing
volcanic activity (Mitchell and Reading, 197 1; Gold-
strand, 1994; Hathway, 1994). Volcanic rock frag-
ments, plagioclase and mafic heavy minerals in im-
mature marine sedimentary rocks represent erosion
of submarine and subaerial volcanic edifices and
unroofing of the plutonic-metamorphic core of the
arc with rapid transport of unstable grains into sub-
aqueous environments (Mitchell, 1970; Dickinson,
1973; Galloway, 1974; Dickinson and Seely, 1979).
Elevation of submarine volcanic edifices above the
CCD associated with dilution in elastic material dur-
ing periods of inactive volcanism or prolonged inter-
vals of tectonic quiescence promote the successful
colonization of organisms and subsequent widespread
precipitation of carbonate sediments in shallow sub-
tidal environments (Mitchell and Reading, 197 1;
Dickinson and Seely, 1979; Hall et al., 1988;
Watkins, 1990) (Fig. 5).
In many arcs, small, spatially restricted limestone
lenses enclosed in volcaniclastic strata represent the
incipient stages in carbonate platform evolution asso-
ciated with the local establishment of marine com-
munities before a resumption in volcanic activity and
(or) transport of terrigenous or volcaniclastic detritus
(Fig. 5). In the Al exander terrane of southeastern
Alaska, for example, the restricted development of
small coral-bearing lenses and fossiliferous lime-
Re&ws 41 (1996131-65
stone clasts in Silurian volcaniclastic units (Descon
Formation) indicate that the oldest limestones ini-
tially formed in the arc only locally under shallow
marine conditions (Soja, 1993) (Fig. 3). Middle De-
vonian limestones (Kennett Formation) from the
Eastern Klamatb terrane accumulated in large lenses
60 m thick as fossiliferous debris flows and tur-
bidites derived from shallow water zones (Watkins
and Flory, 1986) (Fig. 3). In the Stikine terrane,
Devonian-Permian limestones were limited to small
buildups and mounds that formed on the upper slope
while the arc continued to experience volcanism and
eventually emerged as a pile of welded pyroclastic
and epiclastic material (Brown et al., 1991). Simi-
larly in the Solomons Islands (Vanuatu arc), lime-
stone lenses up to 50 m thick reflect the discontinu-
ous development of reef and slope deposits that
formed on the flanks of partially submerged volcanic
ridges (Coulson, 1985). On Guam, fragments of
Eocene limestones in volcanic breccias represent an
incipient carbonate platform that was destroyed later
by explosive volcanism (Schlanger, 1964; Tracey et
al., 1964).
The size and extent of the carbonate platform in
island arcs depend to a large degree on the length of
the quiescent period and on rates of subsidence and
uplift (Adey and Burke, 1977). Once the carbonate
platform is stabilized and conditions remain favor-
able, protracted periods of subsidence sustained at
low rates provide an ongoing supply of space in the
shallow marine realm to accommodate shallow ma-
rine communities and derivative calcareous material,
including extraordinary thicknesses of shell-rich la-
goonal and shelf sediment (Fig. 5). Hot spot islands,
such as Tahiti and Truk, show considerable similari-
ties to island arcs in the prolific production of car-
bonate material (Tucker and Wright, 1990). Platform
deposits form progressively thicker accumulations as
these islands increase in age and become more sub-
merged. Coral-rich sediments 340 m thick have been
deposited on Tahiti in me past 1.6 m.y., and reefal
deposits 1100 m thick have formed on the almost
atoll Truk in the last 14 m.y. with an approximate
average rate of subsidence 0.14 m 1000 yr-
(Menard, 1986).
Fringing reefs may (or may not) evolve and per-
sist while barrier reefs or sand shoals form on the
platform margin at increasing distances from shore
 C.M. Soja/Earth-Science
(Fig. 5). Steady and prolonged subsidence at a rate
that is average for slowly sinking oceanic crust may
lead to the development of an atoll and extensive
carbonate deposition (Fig. 5). Oversteepened plat-
form margins caused by reef growth or faulting, for
example, may contribute to the sporadic mass trans-
fer of shallow water detritus downslope into deep
marine sites of preservation (Fig. 5). Rapid facies
transitions between volcanic and carbonate rocks and
between shallow and deep marine limestones de-
velop largely as a consequence of steep submarine
slopes, tectonic instability, and (or) changes in global
climate recorded in sea-level fluctuations (Fig. 5).
The assemblages of organisms that colonize and
evolve in island arcs appear to be anomalous
from a cratonic perspective but can be well under-
stood within the context of biogeographic isolation.
If an arc is located at a considerable distance ( > 1000
km) from sources of continental floras and faunas, a
substantial component of endemic taxa reflects the
affect of insularity on marine organisms that undergo
genetic differentiation and speciation in geographic
isolation (Kay and Palumbi, 1987) (Fig. 7). Evolu-
tionary change can take place very rapidly in small
populations of marine organisms isolated around
oceanic islands. Migration may be impeded by deep
ocean barriers, great geographic distances and (or)
unfavorable patterns of oceanographic circulation
(e.g., Grigg, 1988). As gene flow is limited, regions
over time develop individual faunas of relatively low
diversity and abundance, which later may be modi-
fied by environmental changes, such as intensifica-
tion in oceanographic currents that enhanced trans-
port of coral larval from the IWP to Hawaii begin-
ning in the Oligocene (Grigg, 1988) and the global
decline in temperature associated with sea-level fluc-
tuations during the Pleistocene glaciation that ad-
versely affected islands in the South Pacific and
drowned coral reefs on Hawaii (Briggs, 1974; Veron,
1985; Paulay, 1990; Jones, 1995).
Complex provincial affinities and low-diversity,
depauperate populations characterize island arcs be-
cause they reflect the influence of other islands and
distant continents on the evolution of island biotas
via random chance dispersal of planktotrophic larvae
(or, rarely, of rafted adults) by surface and subsur-
face currents, stepping stone or staging post
migration, island integration or tectonic subdivision
Reviews 41 (19%) 31-65 55
of vast oceanic regions and (or) pre-accretionary
transoceanic movement of island terranes (McKer-
row and Cocks, 1972; Rotondo et al., 1981; Hallam,
1986; Skelton and Wright, 1987; Newton, 1988;
Grigg and Hey, 1992; Stanley, 1994). Habitable
areas on islands are small relative to sites on the
continental shelf and thus biotas are less diverse and
more vulnerable to extinction. Other environmental
conditions, such as unfavorable ocean circulation
patterns, bathymetry, temperature, strong bottom
currents or unsuitable substrates may also act as
barriers and prevent larval recruitment or settlement
thus inhibiting species diversity and limiting the
abundance and density of individual organisms.
Chronic volcanic and tectonic activity also causes
repeated environmental disturbances, which promote
evolutionary disequilibrium, reduce speciation, and
increase the risk of extinction (Briggs, 1974; Carl-
son, 1981; Diamond, 1984; Jablonski, 1985; Veron,
1985; Grigg et al., 1987).
Uplift into the photic zone can provide favorable
conditions for the successful colonization of organ-
isms and for widespread precipitation of carbonates
in the shallow marine realm, but abrupt vertical
motion leading to rapid subsidence or emergence can
extinguish shallow marine communities and termi-
nate carbonate deposition through drowning, collapse
or subaerial exposure of the shallow subtidal plat-
form (Fig. 5). For example, uplift and elastic wedge
progradation during incipient erogenic stages deci-
mated Silurian shallow marine communities and ter-
minated carbonate platform development, resulting
in faunal turnover and radiation of opportunistic
microbal taxa during subsequent platform rejuvena-
tion in the Alexander terrane (Soja, 1993); normal
faults induced platform collapse of a limestone-
capped seamount of Carboniferous-Permian age dur-
ing collision along a convergent margin (Kanmera et
al., 1990); abrupt facies transitions in Permian skele-
tal carbonates and siliceous mudstones of the Eastern
Klamath terrane record rapid drowning of the plat-
form caused by downfaulting and high rates of subsi-
dence (Watkins, 1993a); karst deposits on top of an
Early Jurassic coral reef in the Stikine (or Cache
Creek) terrane indicate that reef growth was termi-
nated abruptly by sudden uplift or eustatic sea-level
fall (Stanley and Beauvais, 1994; Stanley, 1996) and
subduction of young, buoyant oceanic crust uplifted
56 C.M. Soju / Earfh-Science
the forearc region in the Solomon Islands (Vanuatu
arc) as much as 2 km in the last million years
(Coulson, 1985; Vedder, 1986).
5.2. Comparison with other platform carbonates
A greater understanding of and appreciation for
sedimentary dynamics in island arcs will help to
ensure that carbonates of island-arc origin do not go
undetected in the geologic record. Destructive tec-
tonic and geologic processes in island arcs may
hinder determining the original size and extent of the
carbonate platform, and particular facies types may
not be represented (e.g., fringing and barrier reefs at
the platform margin). However, many characteristics
have potential value for identifying carbonates of
island-arc origin in the ancient rock record.
Because of the similarities that island-arc carbon-
ates share with other platform carbonates, misidenti-
fications are likely to occur if interpretations are
made in a geological vacuum that fails to evaluate
the stratigraphic context in which the limestones
occur. A suite of sedimentary features must be used
to differentiate island-arc carbonates from other plat-
form deposits because the presence of limestones in
ancient island arcs cannot be determined by relying
solely on any single characteristic described above.
Interpretations of island-arc origins for limestones
will be reinforced if corroborating evidence is de-
rived from an integration of paleontologic and litho-
logic data and is sought in interbedded, talc-alkaline
igneous or volcaniclastic deposits.
Two distinct types of fossiliferous carbonate sedi-
ments form within island arcs and aid in their identi-
fication: (1) those that accumulate to considerable
thicknesses on a shallow marine platform and (2)
those that are redeposited on deep marine slopes by
sediment gravity flow processes. Despite their high
degree of complexity, carbonates in island arcs are
characterized by a consistent suite of features, princi-
pally marine biotas that exhibit elevated levels of
endemism and mixed paleobiogeographic affinities;
extraordinary thicknesses of platform (shallow ma-
rine) and periplatform carbonates; and rapid facies
changes between volcanic and carbonate rocks and
between shallow and deep water limestones (Table
2). These diagnostic properties indicate that steep
submarine slopes, isolation from biologically diverse
Rwie,v.s 41 (19961 31-65
faunas and floras and from continental sources of
abundant quartz-rich detritus, prolonged subsidence
and tectonic instability exert considerable influence
on carbonate production and preservation.
Because similar biogeographic, physical and geo-
morphologic conditions exist in many offshore island
settings, comparable deposits form in island arcs and
adjacent to intra-oceanic hot spots or to seamounts
and guyots of divergent-plate origin. However, abun-
dant tholeiitic basalts (greenstones) and (or) a pre-
ponderance of pelagic and hemipelagic sediments
distinguish seamounts and oceanic plateaus from
other types of islands (Sane and Kanmera, 1988;
Richards et al., 199 1; Sano and Tamada, 1994);
abundant shallow marine carbonates associated with
volcaniclastics and tuffs, terrigenous deposits, caliche
horizons and (or) evaporite minerals differentiate
emergent arc or hot spot islands from atolls or
submerged guyots; and limestones interbedded with
a high volumetric percentage (90-99%) of frag-
mented volcanic rocks of talc-alkaline composition
help to establish origin adjacent to an island arc
rather than hot spot or mid-ocean ridge (Garcia,
1978; Larue et al., 1991; Nunn, 1994). The composi-
tion of volcanic rocks in island arcs is highly vari-
able and reflects the character of the crust through
which magmas erupt, but the earliest volcanics ex-
truded generally are basaltic (primitive) and become
progressively more sihcic (evolved) in composition
over time (Camp, 1984; Hamilton, 1988; Goldstrand,
1994; Vallier, 1995). Thus systematic changes
recorded in derivative volcaniclastic and siliciclastic
deposits also aid in the identification of evolving arc
assemblages (Dorsey, 1988).
In the Alexander and Wallowa terranes, for exam-
ple, the abundance of volcaniclastic and quartz-free
units, Nd and Sr isotope data and the local occur-
rence of extrusive igneous rocks, which include pil-
low basalts, basalt agglomerates, andesite breccias
and rhyolite tuffs and flows, are particularly good
indicators that associated carbonates may have origi-
nated in an island arc (Eberlein and Churkin, 1970;
Eberlein et al., 1983; Gehrels and Saleeby, 1987;
Samson et al., 1989; Vallier, 1995). Platform and
periplatform limestones in these terranes accumu-
lated to impressive thicknesses, exhibit complex fa-
ties patterns and comprise low-diversity biotas with
elevated levels of endemism and mixed paleobiogeo-
 C.M. Soja/ Earth-Science Reuiews 41 (1996) 31-65
graphic affinities, thus corroborating other data that
imply origin in an island arc environment. Distinc-
tive ore bodies may also aid in the identification of
ancient island arcs. Kuroko-type massive sulfides,
bedded barite, porphyry copper and gold, for exam-
ple, may form from hydrothermal activity during late
stages in felsic volcanism or at intrusive contacts
(Mitchell and Bell, 1973; Guilbert and Park, 1975;
Sawkins, 19901, as suggested by rhyolite-associated
copper and zinc deposits in the Middle Devonian and
Triassic of the Eastern Klamath arc terrane (Watkins
and Flory, 1986; Sawkins, 1990) and by massive
copper and iron sulfide deposits in the Alexander
terrane (Condon, 196 I).
Limestones that formed in island arcs exhibit
obvious similarities with carbonates that precipitated
in ancient epicontinental (epeiric) seas or on modem
shelves (passive continental margins), which also
experience slow, prolonged rates of subsidence.
However with an average width of 50 km (Meadows
and Campbell, 1988), modem continental shelves
have considerably greater area1 extent and are on
average lo-50 times larger than platforms forming
adjacent to island arcs. Furthermore, many pre-
Cenozoic carbonates of cratonic origin originated in
vast epicontinental seas, which have no modem
analogs. These epicontinental carbonate platforms
were characterized by low relief close to or at sea
level, a gently sloping shelf that extended laterally as
much as 3000-5000 km, and typically no more than
100-200 m of rock representative of particular geo-
logic periods (Boucot, 1975). Thus apart from a lack
of association with talc-alkaline igneous rocks, cra-
tonic limestones can be distinguished from island-arc
carbonates because they overlie continental basement
or derivative quartz-rich facies and are characterized
by thinner limestones deposited per time interval that
exhibit gradual, less pronounced facies transitions
because of the broader, more areally extensive nature
of the gently sloping epicontinental shelf.
The most reliable paleontologic criteria for sepa-
rating island-arc limestones from those that evolved
on the craton are elevated levels of endemism and
complex provincial affinities. Some degree of cau-
tion must be exercised in relying on paleontologic
characteristics to identify ancient island arcs because,
as discussed, levels of endemism and provincial
affinities vary among invertebrate clades and have
57
fluctuated over geologic time in response to tectonic
conditions and global high or low stands of sea level.
Nevertheless, conditions similar to those that influ-
ence the evolution of benthic communities in island
arcs are unlikely to exist on most subtropical and
tropical continental margins (or ancient epicontinen-
tal seas> because shallow marine areas are areally
large and can support larger, more diverse popula-
tions of marine organisms. Furthermore, habitable
areas on continental and epicontinental shelves are
contiguous and lack significant barriers to larval
dispersal such that endemic taxa occur in lower
proportions and anomalous biogeographic mix-
tures of genera or species are rare. The higher den-
sity of individual organisms and greater species di-
versity of biotas that inhabit continental and epicon-
tinental shelves also result from the propensity of
biologic communities to repopulate nearby areas
where organisms were exterminated during local en-
vironmental disturbances.
Limestones from island arcs also share certain
sedimentologic characteristics in common with cra-
tonic limestones affected by rifting. Extensional and
transtensional tectonics along continental margins,
particularly those that support large carbonate plat-
forms, can produce small, isolated platforms sur-
rounded by deep water through detachment or tilting
of individual carbonate masses along normal faults,
as is well documented for the Cambrian of Sardinia
and the Appalachians (Bechstldt and Boni, 1989;
Read, 1985, 1989; Cocozza and Gandin, 1990) and
for the Mesozoic of Italy (Goldhammer and Harris,
1989; Cocozza and Gandin, 1990) and the Gulf of
Mexico (Wilson, 1990). These and other studies
show that extensive reefal carbonates can accumulate
on the interior or at the margin of each nucleated
platform with the narrow, raised rim contributing to
the preservation of a considerable thickness of la-
goonal sediments (Read, 1985). Horsts uplifted into
shallow marine zones also may undergo slow subsi-
dence and support impressive thicknesses of plat-
form carbonates. Faulted margins create escarpment
slopes that typically are steep (N 25-60). Complex
facies mosaics result from the collapse of steep
platform margins and episodic shedding of shallow
water material as slumps and megabreccias (debris
flows) into periplatform sites. Great lateral and verti-
cal variations in the thickness of shallow and deep
58 C.M. Soja /Earth-Science
marine facies reflect their accumulation in a complex
marine topography where structural highs and lows
are affected by differential subsidence and isostatic
adjustment (Read, 1985; Bite and Stewart, 1990;
Cocozza and Gandin, 1990).
Despite the similarities shared with island-arc car-
bonates, rift carbonates can be readily distingished
from those of island-arc origin because they invari-
ably overlie continental (metamorphic) basement or
transitional crust that is intermediate geochemically
between continental and oceanic crust (Searle and
Graham, 1982). Rift-related deposits form diagnostic
sequences, distinct from those in island arcs, of basal
volcanics overlain by terrigenous evaporites and al-
luvial fan, fluvial, or lacustrine siliciclastics, includ-
ing cross-bedded quartz-rich sandstones and red beds
(Read, 1989; Wilson, 1990). Perhaps more signifi-
cantly, biotas that evolve on rifted carbonate plat-
forms are not characterized by highly endemic taxa
or by complex provincial affinities, as are organisms
on offshore islands, because of their proximity to a
continental margin.
6. Summary
An unexpected outcome of terrane analysis in the
Cordillera of western North America was the realiza-
tion that ancient islands form a significant part of the
continents accreted margin (Coney et al., 1980;
Saleeby, 1983; Soja, 1992; Stanley, 19961. A grow-
ing body of data from these accreted terranes reveals
that, under appropriate subtropical and tropical con-
ditions, carbonates formed impressive shallow ma-
rine platforms similar to those developing adjacent to
modem volcanic arcs today. Although sedimentation
in island arcs is complex, this synthesis shows that
island-arc carbonates possess a consistent suite of
distinctive features that enhances their identification
in the ancient geologic record. Diagnostic character-
istics in island-arc limestones develop mainly as a
result of their origin adjacent to biogeographically
isolated oceanic islands, which have steep antecedent
slopes and experience slow rates of protracted subsi-
dence during ongoing tectonism in an area of highly
variable, rugged topography.
Island arcs are important tectonic elements that
Retirws 41 (19%) 31-65
demarcate plate boundaries where lithosphere is con-
sumed in zones of convergence. The movement of
ocean plates continually repositions islands within
ocean basins and eventually results in island integra-
tion or accretion of island arcs to continental areas.
Many island arcs are highly altered or deformed by
these tectonic processes, thus an islands strati-
graphic history may be particularly difficult to un-
ravel without a full appreciation of the processes
responsible for the origin and preservation of carbon-
ate deposits. Results of this study suggest that island-
arc origin should be considered whenever calc-al-
kaline igneous and volcaniclastic rocks are observed
to be associated with exceptionally thick platform
and periplatform carbonates that exhibit rapid facies
transitions and have endemic faunas with mixed
paleobiogeographic signatures. The future discovery
of island arcs in the rock record will provide impor-
tant clues about the tectonic history of ancient oceans
and the historical development of modem biogeo-
graphic patterns.
Acknowledgements
Financial support from the National Science
Foundation, Colgate Universitys Research Council,
and the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute of Rad-
cliffe College is gratefully acknowledged. Helpful
review comments from George Stanley, Jr., Rodney
Watkins and Brian White led to improvements in
this manuscript.
References
Adey, W.H. and Burke. R.B., 1977. Holocene bioherms of Lesser
Antilles - Geologic control of development. In: S.H. Frost,
M.P. Weiss and J.B. Saunder (Editors), Reefs and Related
Carbonates - Ecology and Sedimentology. Am. Assoc. Petrol.
Geol. Studies in Geol., 4: 67-8 1.
Armstrong, A.K., MacKevett, E.M., Jr. and Silberling, N.J., 1969.
The Chitistone and Nizina Limestones of part of the southern
Wrangell Mountains, Alaska - a preliminary report stressing
carbonate petrography and depositional environments. U.S.
Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap., 650-D: D49-D62.
Bagnis, R. and Christian, E., 1977. Underwater Guide to Tahiti,
Les Editions du Pacifique, Singapore, 152 pp.
Bazard, D.R., Butler, R.F., Gehrels, G. and Soja, CM., 1995.
 CM. Soja/Earth-Science
Early Devonian paleomagnetic data from the Lower Devonian
Karheen Formation suggest Laurentia-Baltica connection for
the Alexander terrane. Geology, 23: 707-710.
Bechstadt, T. and Boni, M., 1989. Tectonic control on the forma-
tion of a carbonate platform: the Cambrian of southwestern
Sardinia. In: P.D. Crevello, J.L. Wilson, J.R. Sarg and J.F.
Read (Editors), Controls on Carbonate Platform and Basin
Development. S.E.P.M. Spec. Pap., 44: 107-122.
Belasky, P. and Runnegar, B., 1993. Biogeographic constraints for
tectonic reconstructions of the Pacific region. Geology, 21:
979-982.
Belasky, P. and Runnegar, B., 1994. Permian longitudes of
Wrangellia, Stikinia, and Eastern Klamath terranes based on
coral biogeography. Geology, 22: 1095-1098.
Bite, D.M. and Stewart, K.G., 1990. The formation and drowning
of isolated carbonate seamounts: Tectonic and ecologic con-
trols in the northern Apennines. In: M.E. Tucker, J.L. Wilson,
P.D. Crevello, J.R. Sarg and J.R. Read (Editors), Carbonate
Platforms: Facies, Sequences and Evolution. Int. Assoc. Sed-
imtol., Spec. Publ., 9. Blackwell, Boston, pp. 145-168.
Birch, F.S., 1986. Isostatic, thermal, and flexural models of the
subsidence of the north coast of Puerto Rico. Geology, 14:
427-429.
Bjorlykke, K., 1974. Geochemical and mineralogical influence of
Ordovician island arcs on epicontinental elastic sedimentation:
a study of lower Palaeozoic sedimentation in the Oslo region,
Norway. Sedimentology, 21: 251-272.
Blome, C.D. and Nestell, M.K., 1991. Evolution of a Permo-Tri-
assic sedimentary melange, Grindstone terrane, east-central
Oregon. Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 103: 1280-1296.
Boucot, A.J., 1975. Evolution and Extinction Rate Controls. Else-
vier, New York, 427 pp.
Briggs, J.C., 1973. Operation of zoogeographic barriers. Syst.
Zool., 23: 248-256.
Briggs, J.C., 1974. Marine Zoogeography. McGraw-Hill, New
York, 475 pp.
Brown, D.A., Logan, J.M., Gunning, M.H., Orchard, M.J. and
Bamber, W.E., 1991. Stratigraphic evolution of the Paleozoic
Stikine assemblage in the Stikine and Iskut rivers area, north-
western British Columbia. Can. J. Earth Sci., 28: 958-972.
Bruton, D.L. and Harper, D.A.T., 1985. Early Ordovician
(Arenig-Llanvim) faunas from oceanic islands in the Ap-
palachian-Caledonide orogen. In: D.G. Gee and B.A. Sturt
(Editors), The Caledonide Orogen - Scandinavia and Related
Areas. Wiley, New York, pp. 359-368.
Camp, V.E., 1984. Island arcs and their role in the evolution of
the western Arabian Shield. Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 95: 913-
921.
Carlson, H.L., 1981. Microevolution in insular ecosystems. In: D.
Mueller-Dombois, K.W. Bridges and H.L. Carson (Editors),
Island Ecosystems: Biological Organization in Selected
Hawaiian Communities. Hutchinson Ross, Stroudsburg, PA,
pp. 47 l-482.
Carney, J.N., Macfarlane, A. and Mallick, D.J., 1985. The Vanu-
atu island arc: an outline of the stratigraphy, structure, and
petrology. In: A.E.M. Naim, F.G. Stehli and S. Uyeda (Edi-
tors), The Ocean Basins and Margins, 7A. The Pacific Ocean.
Plenum Press, New York, pp. 683-718.
Reuiews 41 (1996) 31-65 59
Case, T.J. and Cody, M.L., 1987. Testing theories of island
biogeography. Am. Sci., 75: 402-411.
Chevalier, J.R., 1973. Geomorphology and geology of coral reefs
in French Polynesia. In: O.A. Jones and R. Endean (Editors),
Biology and Geology of Coral Reefs, 1. Academic Press, New
York, pp. 113-141.
Chevalier, J.R., 1981. Reef Scleractinia of French Polynesia. In:
E.D. Gomez, C.E. Birkeland, R.W. Buddemeier, R.E. Jo-
hannes, J.A. Marsh, Jr. and R.T. Tsuda (Editors), The Reef
and Man. Proc. 4th Int. Coral Reef Symp., 2. Marine Sciences
Center, Quezon City, Philippines, pp. 177-182.
Cocozza, T. and Gandin, A., 1990. Carbonate deposition during
early rifting: the Cambrian of Sardinia and the Triassic-
Jurassic of Tuscany, Italy. In: M.E. Tucker, J.L. Wilson, P.D.
Crevello, J.R. Sarg and J.R. Read (Editors), Carbonate Plat-
forms: Facies, Sequences and Evolution. Int. Assoc. Sedimtol.,
Spec. Publ. 9. Blackwell, Boston, pp. 9-37.
Collot, J.-Y. and Fisher, M.A., 1991. The collision zone between
the North dEntrecasteaux Ridge and the New Hebrides island
arc, 1. Sea beam morphology and shallow structure. J. Geo-
phys. Res., 96: 4457-4478.
Colwell, J.B. and Tiffin, D.L., 1986. Recent depositional patterns
in the central Solomons Trough of the Solomon Islands. In:
J.G. Vedder, KS. Pound and S.Q. Boundy (Editors), Geology
and Offshore Resources of Pacific Island Arcs - Central and
Western Solomon Islands. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy
and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci. Ser., 4: 243-254.
Condon, W.H., 1961. Geology of the Craig quadrangle, Alaska.
U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull., 1108-B, 43 pp.
Coney, P.J., 1990. Terranes, tectonics, and the Pacific rim. In: T.J.
Wiley, D.G. Howell, and F.L. Wong (Editors), Terrane analy-
sis of China and the Pacitic Rim. Circum-Pacific Council for
Energy and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci. Ser., 13: 49-69.
Coney, P.J., Jones, D.L. and Monger, J.W.H., 1980. Cordilleran
suspect terranes. Nature, 288: 329-333.
Coulson, FL, 1985. Solomon Islands. In: A.E.M. Naim, F.G.
Stehli and S. Uyeda (Editors), The Ocean Basins and Margins,
7A. The Pacific Ocean. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 607-682.
Coulson, F.I. and Vedder, J.G., 1986. Geology of the central and
western Solomon Islands. In: J.G. Vedder, KS. Pound and
S.Q. Boundy (Editors), Geology and Offshore Resources of
Pacific Island Arcs - Central and Western Solomon Islands.
Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources,
Earth Sci. Ser., 4: 59-87.
Cox, C.B. and Moore, P.D., 1985. Biogeography: An Ecological
and Evolutionary Approach. Blackwell Scientific Publications,
Cambridge, 244 pp.
Croizat, L., Nelson, G. and Rosen, D.E., 1974. Centers of origin
and related concepts. Syst. Zoo]., 23: 265-278.
Cunningham, J.K. and Anscombe, K.J., 1985. Geology of Eua
and other islands, Kingdom of Tonga. In: D.W. Scholl and
T.L. Vallier (Editors), Geology and Offshore Resources of
Pacific Island Arcs - Tonga Region. Circum-Pacific Council
for Energy and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci. Ser., 2: 221-257.
Dana, T.F., 1975. Development of contemporary eastern Pacific
coral reefs. Mar. Biol., 33: 355-374.
Davies, T.A., 1985. Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentation in the
Pacific Ocean basin. In: A.E.M. Naim, F.G. Stehli and S.
60 CM. Soja / Errrth-Science
Uyeda (Editors), The Ocean Basins and Margins, 7A. The
Pacific Ocean. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 65-88.
Dey, S. and Smith, L., 1989. Carbonate and volcanic sediment
distribution patterns on the Grenadines Bank, Lesser Antilles
island arc, east Caribbean. Bull. Can. Petrol. Geol.. 37: 18-30.
Diamond, J.M., 1982. The biogeography of the Pacific Basin.
Nature, 298: 604605.
Diamond, J.M., 1984. Normal extinctions of isolated popula-
tions. In: M.H. Nitecki (Editor), Extinctions. Univ. Chicago
Press, pp. 19 I-246.
Dickinson, W.R., 1973. Reconstruction of past arc-trench systems
from petrotectonic assemblages in the island arcs of the west-
em Pacific. In: P.J. Coleman (Editor), The Western Pacific:
Island Arcs, Marginal Seas. and Geochemistry. Crane and
Russak, New York, pp. 569-601.
Dickinson, W.R. and Seely, D.R., 1979. Structure and stratigraphy
of forearc regions. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull.. 63: 2-31.
Dorsey, R.J., 1988. Provenance evolution and unroofing history of
a modem arc-continent collision: evidence from petrography
of Plio-Pleistocene sandstones, eastern Taiwan. J. Sediment.
Petrol., 58: 208-218.
Draper, G., 1990. Cretaceous-Paleogene arc terrane of Jamaica.
Geol. Sot. Am., Abstr. Program, 22: A336.
Du, Y., Stanley, G.D.. Jr. and McCormick, M., 1992. Reinterpre-
tation of the Hosselkus Limestone of Eastern Klamath terrane:
Late Triassic olistostromes in a volcanic arc basin. Geol. Sot.
Am., Abstr. Program, 24: 2 I.
Duncan, R.A. and Clague, D.A., 1985. Pacific plate motion
recorded by linear volcanic chains. In: A.E.M. Nairn, F.G.
Stehli and S. Uyeda (Editors), The Ocean Basins and Margins.
7A. The Pacific Ocean. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 89-l 2 I.
Eberlein, G.D. and Churkin, M.E., Jr., 1970. Paleozoic stratigra-
phy in the northwest coastal area of Prince of Wales Island.
Southeastern Alaska. U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull., 1284, 67 pp.
Eberlein, G.D., Churkin, M., Jr.. Carter, C., Berg. H.C. and
Ovenshine, A.T.. 1983. Geology of the Craig Quadrangle,
Alaska. U.S. Geol. Surv. Open-File Rep. 83-91. 28 pp.
Eldredge, L.G. and Miller, S.E., 1995. How many species are
there in Hawaii? Bishop Mus. Occas. Pap.. 41: 3- 18.
Exon, N.F. and Marlow. MS.. 1988. Tripartite study of the New
Ireland-Manus region, Papua New Guinea: an introduction.
In: M.S. Marlow, S.V. Dadisman and N.F. Exon (Editors).
Geology and Offshore Resources of Pacific Island Arcs -
New Ireland and Manus Forearc Region, Papua New Guinea.
Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources.
Earth Sci. Ser.. 9: l-9.
Floyd, P.A., 1991. Oceanic islands and seamounts. In: P.A. Floyd
(Editor), Oceanic Basal&. Reinhold. New York, pp. 174-218.
Fliigel, E., Senowbari-Daryan, 9. and Stanley, G.D., Jr., 1989.
Late Triassic dasycladacean alga from northeastern Oregon:
significance of first reported occurrence in western North
America. J. PaIeontol., 63: 374-381.
Follo, M.F., 1994. Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the Martin
Bridge Limestone and Hurwal Formation (Upper Triassic to
Lower Jurassic) from the Wallowa terrane, Oregon. U.S. Geol.
Sum. Prof. Pap., 1439: l-27.
Reviews 41 (I9961 31-65
Foster. A.B., 1986. Neogene paleontology in the northern Domini-
can Republic, 3. The family Poritidae (Anthozoa: Scleractinia).
Bull. Am. Paleontol.. 90: 47- 123.
Fulthorpe. C.S. and Schlanger, S.O.. 1989. Paleo-oceanographic
and tectonic settings of early Miocene reefs and associated
carbonates of offshore southeast Asia. Am. Assoc. Petrol.
Geol. Bull., 73: 729-756.
Galloway, W.E., 1974. Deposition and diagenetic alteration of
sandstone in northeast Pacific arc-related basins: implications
for graywacke genesis. Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 85: 379-390.
Garcia. M.O., 1978. Criteria for the identification of ancient
volcanic arcs. Earth-Sci. Rev., 14: 147-165.
Garzanti. E.. 1985. Sandstone memory of a Triassic volcanic arc,
Italy Alps. Sedimentology. 32: 423-433.
Gehrels, G.E. and Saleeby, J.B., 1987. Geologic framework,
tectonic evolution, and displacement history of the Alexander
terrane. Tectonics, 6: 15l- 173.
Goldhammer, R.K. and Harris, M.T., 1989. Eustatic controls on
the stratigraphy and geometry of the Latemar buildup (Middle
Triassic), the Dolomites of northern Italy. In: P.D. Crevello,
J.L. Wilson, J.R. Sarg, and J.F. Read (Editors), Controls on
Carbonate Platform and Basin Development. S.E.P.M. Spec.
Pap.. 44: 323-338.
Goldstrand, P.M., 1994. The Mesozoic geologic evolution of the
northern Wallowa terrane, northeastern Oregon and western
Idaho. In: T.L. Vallier and H.C. Brooks (Editors), Geology of
the Blue Mountains Region of Oregon, Idaho, and Washing-
ton: Stratigraphy, Physiography, and Mineral Resourcs of the
Blue Mountains Region. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap., 1439:
29-53.
Goreau, T.F. and Wells, J.W., 1967. The shallow-water sclerac-
tinia of Jamaica: revised list of species and their vertical
distribution range. Bull. Mar. Sci., 17: 442-453.
Greene, H.G., Macfarlane, A. and Wong, F.L., 1988. Geology and
offshore resources of Vanuatu - introduction and summary.
In: H.G. Greene and F.L. Wong (Editors), Geology and Off-
shore Resources of Pacific Island Arcs - Vanuatu Region.
Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources,
Earth Sci. Ser., 8: l-25.
Gregory, A.E. III and Kroenke, L.W., 1982. Reef development on
a mid-oceanic island: reflection profiling studies of the 500-
meter shelf south of Oahu. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 66:
843-859.
Grigg. R.W., 1988. Paleoceanography of coral reefs in the Hawai-
ian-Emperor chain. Science, 240: 1737-1743.
Grigg, R.W. and Hey, R., 1992. Paleoceanography of the tropical
eastern Pacific Ocean. Science, 255: 172-178.
Grigg, R.W., Malahoff, A., Chave, E.H. and Landahl, J., 1987.
Seamount benthic ecology and potential environmental impact
from manganese crust mining in Hawaii. In: B.H. Keating, P.
Fryer, R. Batiza and G.W. Boehlert (Editors), Seamounts,
Islands, and Atolls. Geophys. Monogr., 43. Geophys. Union,
Washington, D.C., pp. 379-390.
Guilbert, J.M. and Park, C.F., Jr., 1975. The Geology of Ore
Deposits. 3rd ed. Freeman, New York, 985 pp.
Hall, R.. Audley-Charles, M.G., Banner, F.T., Hidayat, S. and
 CM. Soja / Earth-Science Reviews 41 (1996) 31-65
Tobing, S.L., 1988. Late Palaeogene-Quatemary geology of
Halmahera, eastern Indonesia: initiation of a volcanic island
arc. J. Geol. Sot. London, 145: 577-590.
Hallam, A., 1986. Evidence of displaced tetranes from Permian to
Jurassic faunas around the Pacific margins. _I. Geol. Sot.
London, 143: 209-216.
Hamilton, W.B., 1988. Plate tectonics and island arcs. Geol. Sot.
Am. Bull., 100: 1503-1527.
Hannah, J.L. and Moore+ E.M., 1986. Age relationships and
depositional environments of Paleozoic strata, northern Sierra
Nevada, California. Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 97: 787-797.
Harland, W.B., Armstrong, R.L., Cox, A.V., Craig, L.E., Smith,
A.G. and Smith, D.G., 1990. A Geologic Time Scale 1989.
Cambridge University Press, New York, 263 pp.
Hathway, B., 1994. Sedimentation and volcanism in an
Oligocene-Miocene intra-oceanic arc and fore-arc, southwest-
em Viti Levu, Fiji. J. Geol. Sot. London, 151: 499-514.
Hathway, B., 1995. Deposition and diagenesis of Miocene arc-
fringing platform and debris-apron carbonates, southwestern
Viti Levu, Fiji. Sediment. Geol., 94: 187-208.
Heck, K.L., Jr. and McCoy, E.D., 1978. Long-distance dispersal
and the reef-building corals of the eastern Pacific. Mar. Biol.,
48: 349-356.
Howell, D.G. (Editor), 1985. Tectonostratigraphic Terranes of the
Circum-Pacific Region. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy
and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci. Ser., 1, 581 pp.
Hutton, D.H.W., 1989. Pre-Alleghanian terrane tectonics in the
British and Irish caledonides. In: R.D. Dallmeyer (Editor),
Terranes in the Circum-Atlantic Paleozoic Orogens. Geol. Sot.
Am. Spec. Pap., 230: 48.
Jablonski, D., 1985. Marine regressions and mass extinctions: a
test using the modern biota. In: J.W. Valentine (Editor),
Phanerozoic Diversity Patterns. Profiles in Macroevolution.
Princeton University Press, pp. 335-354.
Jablonski, D. and Flessa, K.W., 1986. The taxonomic stmcture of
shallow-water marine faunas: implications for Phanerozoic
extinctions. Malacologia, 27: 43-66.
James, M.K. (Editor), 1991. Galapagos Marine Invertebrates:
Taxonomy, Biogeography, and Evolution in Darwins Islands.
Plenum Press, New York, 474 pp.
Johnson, J.G., 1990. Lower and Middle Devonian brachiopod-
dominated communities of Nevada, and their position in a
biofacies-province-realm model. J. Paleontol., 64: 902-941.
Jones, A.T., 1995. Geochronology of drowned Hawaiian coral
reefs. Sediment. Geol., 99: 233-242.
Jones, D.L., 1990. Synopsis of late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic
terrane accretion within the Cordillera of western North Amer-
ica. Philos. Trans. R. Sot. London, A331: 479-486.
Jung, P. and Petit, R.E., 1990. Neogene paleontology in the
northern Dominican Republic, 10. The family Cancellariidae
(Mollusca: Gastropoda). Bull. Am. Paleontol., 98: 87-193.
Kanmera, K., Sano, H. and Isozaki, Y., 1990. Akiyoshi terrane.
In: K. Ichikawa, S. Mizutani, I. Hara, S. Hada and A. Yao
(Editors), Pm-Cretaceous Terranes of Japan. Osaka, Japan,
I.G.C.P. Proj., 224: 49-62.
Kay, E.A. and Palumbi, S.R., 1987. Endemism and evolution in
61
Hawaiian marine invertebrates. Trends Ecol. Evol., 2: 183-
186.
Knox, G.A., 1980. Plate tectonics and the evolution of intertidal
and shallow-water benthic biotic distribution patterns of the
southwest Pacific. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol.,
31: 267-297.
Kokelaar, P., Wright, I. and Gilbert, I., 1990. Catastrophic sedi-
mentation around small island volcanoes. Ahstr. 13th Int.
Sediment. Congr., Nottingham, England, p. 279.
Ladd, H.S., 1966. Chitons and Gastropods (Haliotidae through
Adeorbidae) from the Western Pacific Islands. U.S. Geol.
Surv. Prof. Pap., 531, 98 pp.
Ladd, H.S., 1973. Bikini and Eniwetok atolls, Marshall Islands.
In: O.A. Jones and R. Endean (Editors), Biology and Geology
of Coral Reefs, 1. Academic Press, New York, pp. 93-l 12.
Ladd, H.S., 1982. Cenozoic fossil mollusks from western Pacific
Islands; Gastropods (Eulimidae and Volutidae through Tere-
bridae). U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap., 1171, 100 pp.
Larue, D.K., Smith, A.L. and Schellekens, J.H., 1991. Oceanic
island arc stratigraphy in the Caribbean region: dont take it
for granite. Sediment. Geol., 74: 289-308.
MacArthur, R.H. and Wilson, E.O., 1967. The Theory of Island
Biogeography. Princeton University Press, 203 pp.
Macfarlane, A., Carney, J.N., Crawford, A.J. and Greene, H.G.,
1988. Vanuatu - a review of the onshore geology. In: H.G.
Greene and F.L. Wong (Editors), Geology and Offshore Re-
sources of Pacific Island Arcs - Vanuatu Region. Circum-
Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci.
Ser., 8: 45-91.
Malmquist, D.L., 1991. Galapagos Islands: a Holocene analogue
to the Wallowa accreted terrane, western North America.
Geology, 19: 675-678.
Malmquist, D.L., 1992. Reply to Galapagos Islands: a Holocene
analogue to the Wallowa accreted terrane, western North
America. Geology, 20: 864.
Mamet, B.L. and Pinard, S., 1985. Carboniferous algae from the
Peratrovich Formation, southeastern Alaska. In: D.F. Toomey
and M.H. Nitecki (Editors), Paleoalgology: Contemporary Re-
search and Applications. Springer, Berlin, pp. 91-100.
Marlow, M.S., Exon, N.F., Ryan, H.R. and Dadisman, S.V., 1988.
Offshore structure and stratigraphy of New Ireland Basin and
northern Papua New Guinea. In: MS. Marlow, S.V. Dadisman
and N.F. Exon (Editors), Geology and Offshore Resources of
Pacific Island Arcs - New Ireland and Manus Forearc Re-
gion, Papua New Guinea. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy
and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci. Ser., 9: 137-155.
McKerrow, W.S. and Cocks, L.R.M., 1972. Progressive fauna1
migration across the Iapetus Ocean. Nature, 263: 304-306.
Meadows, P.S. and Campbell, J.I., 1988. An Introduction to
Marine Science. 2nd ed. Wiley, New York, 285 pp.
Menard, H.W., 1986. Islands. Scientific American Books, New
York, 230 pp.
Mesolella, K.J., Scaly, H.A. and Matthews, R.K., 1970. Facies
geometries within Pleistocene reefs of Barbados, West Indies.
Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 54: 1899-1917.
Miller, M.M., 1987. Dispersed remnants of a northeast Pacific
62 C.M.Soja/Earth-Science
fringing arc: Upper Paleozoic terranes of Permian McCloud
fauna1 affinity, western U.S. Tectonics, 6: 807-830.
Miller, M.M., 1989. Intra-arc sedimentation and tectonism: Late
Paleozoic evolution of the eastern Klamath terrane, California.
Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 101: 170-187.
Mitchell, A.H.G., 1970. Facies of an early Miocene volcanic arc.
Malekula Island, New Hebrides. Sedimentology. 14: 201-243.
Mitchell, A.H.G. and Bell, J.D., 1973. Island-arc evolution and
related mineral deposits. J. Geol., 81: 3X1-405.
Mitchell, A.H.G. and Reading, H.G.. 1969. Continental margins,
geosynclines and ocean floor spreading. J. Geol.. 77: 629-646.
Mitchell, A.H.G. and Reading, H.G., 1971. Evolution of island
arcs. J. Geol., 79: 253-284.
Neef, C. and Hendy, C., 1988. Late Pleistocene-Holocene accel-
eration of uplift rate in southwest Erromano Island, southern
Vanuatu, south Pacific: relation to the growth of the Vanuat-
uan mid sedimentary basin. J. Geol., 96: 481-494.
Neuman, R.B., 1972. Brachiopods of Early Ordovician volcanic
islands. In: 24th Int. Geol. Congr., Sec. 7: 297-302.
Neuman, R.B., 1984. Geology and paleobiology of islands in the
Ordovician Iapetus Ocean: review and implications. Geol. Sot.
Am. Bull., 95: 1188-1201.
Newton, CR., 1983. Paleozoogeographic affinities of Norian bi-
valves from the Wrangellian, Peninsular, and Alexander ter-
ranes, western North America. In: C.H. Stevens (Editor).
Pre-Jurassic Rocks in Western North American Suspect Ter-
ranes. S.E.P.M., Pacific Sect., Los Angeles, pp. 37-48.
Newton, C.R., 1987. Biogeographic complexity in Triassic bi-
valves of the Wallowa terrane, northwestern United Statea:
oceanic islands, not continents, provide the best analogues.
Geology, 1.5: 1126-I 129.
Newton, C.R., 1988. Significance of Tethyan fossils in the
American Cordillera. Science, 242: 385-39 I.
Nichols, K.M. and Silberling, N.J., 1979. Early Triassic (Smithian)
Ammonites of Paleoequatorial Affinity from the Chulitna Ter-
rane, South-central Alaska. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap.. 1121.
B, 5 pp.
Niem, A.R., 1989. Coral and limestone, carbonate cements in
siliciclastic rocks, and chalk from dredge samples, Solomon
Islands and Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. In: J.G. Vedder
and T.R. Bruns (Editors), Geology and Offshore Resources of
Pacific Island Arcs - Solomon Islands and Bougainville,
Papua New Guinea Regions. Circum-Pacific Council for En-
ergy and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci. Ser., 12: 175-202.
Nunn, P.D., 1994. Oceanic Islands. Blackwell. Cambridge (USA),
413 pp.
Ovenshine, A.T. and Webster, G.D., 1970. Age and stratigraphy
of the Heceta limestone in northern Sea Otter Sound, south-
eastern Alaska. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap.. 7OOC: Cl70-
c174.
Paulay, G., 1985. The biogeography of the Cook Islands coral
fauna. In: Proc. 5th Int. Coral Reef Congr., 4: 89-94.
Paulay, G., 1990. Effects of late Cenozoic sea-level fluctuations
on the bivalve faunas of tropical oceanic islands. Paleobiol-
ogy, 16: 415-434.
Paulay, G.. 1992. Comment on Galfipagos Islands: a Holocene
Rec~rews
41 (19%)31-65
analogue to the Wallowa accreted terrane, western North
America. Geology, 20: 863.
Pawson, D.L., 1978. The echinoderm fauna of Ascension Island,
South Atlantic Ocean. Smithson. Contrib. Mar. Sci.. 2, 31 pp.
Potter, A.W. et al., 1990a. Early Paleozoic stratigraphic, paleogeo-
graphic, and biogeographic relations of the eastern Klamath
belt, northern California. In: D.S. Harwood and M.M. Miller,
(Editors). Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic Paleogeographic Re-
lations; Sierra Nevada, Klamath Mountains, and Related Ter-
ranes. Geol. Sot. Am. Spec. Pap., 255: 57-74.
Potter. A.W., Watkins, R., Boucot, A.J., Elias, R.J., Flory, R.A.
and Rigby, J.K., 1990b. Biogeography of the Upper Ordovi-
cian Montgomery Limestone, Shoo Fly Complex, northern
Sierra Nevada, California, and comparisons of the Shoo Fly
Complex with the Yreka terrane. In: D.S. Harwood and M.M.
Miller (Editors), Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic Paleogeo-
graphic Relations; Sierra Nevada, Klamath Mountains, and
Related Terranes. Geol. Sot. Am. Spec. Pap., 255: 33-41.
Read, J.F., 1985. Carbonate platform facies models. Am. Assoc.
Petrol. Geol. Bull., 69: I-2 I.
Read, J.F., 1989. Controls on evolution of Cambrian-Ordovician
passive margin, U.S. Appalachians. In: P.D. Crevello. J.L.
Wilson. J.R. Sarg and J.F. Read (Editors), Controls on Car-
bonate Platform and Basin Development. S.E.P.M. Spec. Pap.,
44: 147-166.
Reagan, M.K. and Meijer, A., 1984. Geology and geochemistry of
early arc-volcanic rocks from Guam. Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 95:
701-713.
Reid, R.P.. 1989. Lime Peak reef complex, Norian age, Yukon.
In: H.H.J. Geldaetzer. N.P. James and G.E. Tebbutt (Editors),
Reefs, Canada and Adjacent Area. Can. Sot. Petrol. Geol.
Mem., 13: 758-765.
Richards, M.A.. Jones, D.L.. Duncan, R.A. and DePaolo, D.J..
1991. A mantle plume initiation model for the Wrangellia
nood basalt and other oceanic plateaus. Science, 254: 263-267.
Rosewater. J., 1975. An annotated list of the marine mollusks of
Ascension Island, South Atlantic Ocean. Smithson. Contrib.
Zool.. 189: l-41.
Rotondo, G.M.. Springer, V.G., Scott, G.A.J. and Schlanger, SO..
1981. Plate movement and island integration - A possible
mechanism in the formation of endemic biotas, with special
reference to the Hawaiian Islands. Syst. Zool., 30: 12-21.
Rusmore, M.E. and Woodsworth, G.J.. 1991. Distribution and
tectonic significance of Upper Triassic terranes in the eastern
Coast Mountains and adjacent Intermontane Belt, British
Columbia. Can. J. Earth Sci., 28: 532-541.
Saleeby, J.B., 1983. Accretionary tectonics of the North American
Cordillera. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., II: 45-73.
Salvat. B. and Rives, C., 1984. Shells of Tahiti. Les Editions du
Pacifique, Papeete, Tahiti, I58 pp.
Samson, S.D., McClelland, W.C., Patchett, P.J., Gehrels, G.E. and
Anderson, R.G., 1989. Evidence for neodymium isotopes for
mantle contributions to Phanerozoic crustal genesis in the
Canadian Cordillera. Nature, 337: 705-709.
Samson, S.D., Patchett, P.J., Gehrels, G.E. and Anderson, R.G..
1990. Nd and Sr isotopic characterization of the Wrangellia
 CM. Soja/ Earth-Science Reviews 41 (19%) 31-65
terrane and implications for crustal growth of the Canadian
Cordillera. J. Geol., 98: 749-762.
Sano, H. and Kanmera, K., 1988. Palegeographic reconstruction
of accreted oceanic rocks, Akiyoshi, southwest Japan. Geol-
ogy, 16: 600-603.
Sano, H. and Kanmera, K., 1991a. Collapse of ancient oceanic
reef complex - What happened during collison of Akiyoshi
reef complex? - Geologic setting and age of Akiyoshi ter-
rane rocks on western Akiyoshki-dai plateau. J. Geol. Sot.
Jap., 97: 113-133.
Sano, H. and Kanmera, K., 199lb. Collapse of ancient oceanic
reef complex - What happened during collision of Akiyoshi
reef complex? - Sequence of collisional collapse and genera-
tion of collapse products. J. Geol. Sot. Jap., 97: 631-644.
Sano, H. and Tamada, E., 1994. Collisional collapse-related inter-
nal destruction of Carboniferous-Permian limestone in Juras-
sic accretionary complex, southwest Japan. J. Geol. Sot. Jap.,
100: 828-847.
Savage, N.M., 1981. A reassessment of the age of some Paleozoic
brachiopods from southeastern Alaska. J. Paleontol., 55: 353-
369.
Savage, N.M., 1990. Paleozoic fauna1 affinities of the Alexander
terrane, SE Alaska. Geol. Sot. Am. Abstr. Program, 22: 321.
Savage, N.M. and Baxter, M., 1995. Late Devonian (Frasnianl
brachiopods from the Wadleigh Limestone, southeastern
Alaska. J. Paleontol., 69: 1029-1046.
Savage, N.M., Eberlein, G.D. and Churkin, M., Jr., 1978. Upper
Devonian brachiopods from the Port Refugio Formation, Sue-
mez Island, southeastern Alaska. J. Paleontol., 52: 370-393.
Sawkins, F.J., 1990. Metal Deposits in Relation to Plate Tecton-
ics. 2nd ed. Springer, New York, 461 pp.
Schlager, W., 1981. The paradox of drowned reefs and carbonate
platforms. Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 92: 197-211.
Schlanger, S.O., 1964. Petrology of the limestones of Guam. U.S.
Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap., 403-D: Dl-D52.
Schlanger, S.O., Campbell, J.F. and Jackson, M.W., 1987. Post-
Eocene subsidence of the Marshall Islands recorded by
drowned atolls on Harrie and Sylvania Guyots. In: B.H.
Keating, P. Fryer, R. Batiza and G.W. Boehlert (Editors),
Seamounts, Islands, and Atolls. Geophys. Monogr., 43. Am.
Geophys. Union, Washington, DC., pp. 165-174.
Searle, M.P. and Graham, G.M., 1982. Oman exotics - communities: a three-step process. Palaios, 3: 170-183.
Oceanic carbonate build-ups associated with the early stages
of continental rifting. Geology, 10: 43-49.
Sedlock, R.L., Ortega-GutiCrrez, F. and Speed, R.C., 1993.
Tectonostratigraphic Terranes and Tectonic Evolution of Mex-
ico. Geol. Sot. Am. Spec. Pap., 278: 9.
Senowbari-Daryan, B. and Reid, R.P., 1987. Upper Triassic
sponges (Sphinctozoa) from southern Yukon, Stikinia terrane.
Can. J. Earth Sci., 24: 882-902.
Senowbari-Daryan, B. and Stanley, G.D., Jr., 1988. Triassic
sponges (sphinctozoa) from Hells Canyon, Gregon. J. Paleon-
tol., 62: 419-423.
Silver, E.A. and Smith, R.B., 1983. Comparison of terrane accre-
tion in modem southeast Asia and the Mesozoic North Ameri-
can Cordillera. Geology, 11: 198-202.
63
Simon, C., 1987. Hawaiian evolutionary biology: an introduction.
Trends Ecol. Evol., 2: 175-178.
Skelton, P.W. and Wright, V.P., 1987. A Caribbean rudist bivalve
in Oman: Island-hopping across the Pacific in the Late Creta-
ceous. Palaeontology, 30: 505-529.
Smith, P.L., Westermann, G.E.G., Stanley, G.D., Jr., Yancey, T.E.
and Newton, C.R., 1990. Paleobiogeography of the ancient
Pacific. Science, 249: 680-683.
Soja, C.M., 1988a. Lower Devonian platform carbonates from
Kasaan Island, southeastern Alaska, Alexander terrane. Can. J.
Earth Sci., 25: 639-656.
Soja, CM., 198813. Paleobiogeography of Lower Devonian faunas
from the Alexander terrane, southeastern Alaska. Geol. Sot.
Am., Abstr. Program, 20: 308.
Soja, C.M., 1988~. Lower Devonian (Emsian) brachiopods from
southeastern Alaska, USA. Palaeontographica Abt. A, 201:
129-193.
Soja, CM., 1990. Island arc carbonates from the Silurian Heceta
Formation of southeastern Alaska (Alexander terrane). J. Sedi-
ment. Petrol., 60: 235-249.
Soja, C.M., 199la. Origin of Silurian reefs in the Alexander
terrane of southeastern Alaska. Palaios, 6: 1 1 l- 126.
Soja, C.M., 199lb. Silurian trace fossils in carbonate turbidites
from the Alexander arc of southeastern Alaska. Ichnos, 1:
173-181.
Soja, C.M., 1992. Potential contributions of ancient oceanic is-
lands to evolutionary theory. J. Geol., 100: 125-134.
Soja, CM., 1993. Carbonate platform evolution in a Silurian
oceanic island: a case study from Alaskas Alexander termite.
J. Sediment. Petrol., 63: 1078-1088.
Soja, CM., 1994. Significance of Silurian stromatolite-sphinc-
tozoan reefs. Geology, 22: 355-358.
Solem, A., 1959. Marine mollusca of the New Hebrides. Pac. Sci.,
13: 253-268.
Stanley, G.D., Jr., 1986. Late Triassic coelenterate faunas of
western Idaho and northeastern Oregon: Implications for bios-
tratigraphy and paleogeography. In: T.L. Vallier and H.C.
Brooks (Editors), Geology of the Blue Mountains Region of
Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap.,
1435: 23-36.
Stanley, G.D., Jr., 1988. The history of early Mesozoic reef
Stanley, G.D., Jr., 1993. Triassic reefbuilding and Late Triassic
mass extinctions. Carboniferous to Jurassic Pangea. Annu.
Conv. Can. Sot. Petrol. Geol. Program Abstr., p. 297.
Stanley, G.D., Jr., 1994. Late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic
reef-building organisms and paleogeography: the Tetbyan-
North American connection. Cour. Forsch. Senck., 172: 69-75.
Stanley, G.D., Jr., 1996. Confessions of a displaced reefer. Palaios,
11: l-2.
Stanley, G.D., Jr. and Beauvais, L., 1990. Middle Jurassic corals
from the Wallowa terrane, west-central Idaho. J. Paleontol.,
64: 352-362.
Stanley, G.D., Jr. and Beauvais, L., 1994. Corals from an Early
Jurassic coral reef in British Columbia: refuge on an oceanic
island reef. Lethaia, 27: 35-47.
64 C.M. Sqja / Earth-Science
Stanley, G.D., Jr. and McRoberts, C.A.. 1993. A coral reef in the
Telkwa Range, British Columbia: the earliest Jurassic exam-
ple. Can. J. Earth Sci., 30: 819-831.
Stanley, G.D., Jr. and Nelson, J.L., 1996. New investigations on
Eaglenest Mountain, northern Quesnel terrane: An Upper Tri-
assic reef facies in the Takla Group, central British Columbia
(93N/I 1E). B.C. Geol. Surv. Branch, Geol. Fieldwork 1995.
Pap., 1996-l: 127-135.
Stanley, G.D.. Jr. and Vallier, T.L., 1992. Comment on
Galapagos Islands: a Holocene analogue to the Wallowa
accreted terrane, western North America. Geology, 20: 661.
Stanley, G.D., Jr. and Whalen, M.T., 1989. Triassic corals and
spongiomotphs from Hells Canyon, Wallowa terrane, Oregon.
J. Paleontol., 63: 800-819.
Stanley, SM., 1979. Macroevolution: Pattern and Process. Free-
man, San Francisco, 332 pp.
Stark, J.T., 1963. Petrology of the Volcanic Rocks of Guam. U.S.
Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap., 403-C 32 pp.
Steers, J.A. and S&dart, D.R., 1973. The origin of fringing reefs.
barrier reefs, and atolls. In: O.A. Jones and R. Endean (Edi-
tors), Biology and Geology of Coral Reefs, 4. Academic Press.
New York, pp. 21-57.
Stevens, C.H., Miller, M.M. and Nestell, M.. 1987. A new
Permian waagenophyllid coral from the Klamath Mountains.
California. J. Paleontol., 61: 690-699.
Stevens, C.H., Yancey, T.E. and Hanger, R.A., 1990. Significance
of the provincial signature of Early Permian faunas of the
eastern Klamath terrane. In: D.S. Harwood and M.M. Miller
(Editors), Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic Paleogeographic Re-
lations; Sierra Nevada, Klamath Mountains, and Related Ter-
ranes. Geol. Sot. Am. Spec. Pap., 255: 201-218.
Stewart, W.D. and Sandy, M.J.. 1988. Geology of New Ireland
and Djaul Islands, northeastern Papua New Guinea. In: M.S.
Marlow, S.V. Dadisman and N.F. Exon (Editors). Geology
and Offshore Resources of Pacific lsland Arcs - New Ireland
and Manus Forearc Region, Papua New Guinea. Circum-
Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources. Earth Sci.
Ser., 9: 13-30.
Tomblin, J.F., 1970. Field guide to Barbados. In: Lesser Antilles.
Intern. Field Inst. Guidebook to the Caribbean Island-Arc
System, Ch. 17: 1-7.
Tracey, J.I., Jr., Schlanger, S.O., Stark, J.T., Doan. D.B. and May,
H.G., 1964. General geology of Guam. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof.
Pap., 403-A: Al-AlO4.
Tucker, M.E. and Wright, V.P., 1990. Carbonate Sedimentology.
Blackwell Scientific Publications, Boston, pp. 33-34.
Vallier, T.L., 1995. Petrology of pre-Tertiary igneous rocks in the
Blue Mountains region of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington:
Implications for the geologic evolution of a complex island
arc. In: T.L. Vallier and H.C. Brooks (Editors), Geology of the
Blue Mountains Region of Oregon, Idaho. and Washington:
Petrology and Tectonic Evolution of Pre-Tertiary Rocks of the
Blue Mountains Region. U.S. Geol. Sure. Prof. Pap.. 1438:
125-209.
Vedder, J.G., 1986. Summary of the geology and offshore re-
sources of the Solomon Islands. In: J.G. Vedder, KS. Pound
and S.Q. Boundy (Editors), Geology and Offshore Resources
Rec~iew 4 I ( 19%) 31-65
of Pacific Island Arcs - Central and Western Solomon
Islands. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Re-
sources, Earth Sci. Ser., 4: 295-306.
Vedder, J.G. and Coulson, FL, 1986. Regional offshore geology
of the Solomon Islands. In: J.G. Vedder, K.S. Pound and S.Q.
Boundy (Editors), Geology and Offshore Resources of Pacific
Island Arcs - Central and Western Solomon Islands.
Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources,
Earth Sci. Ser., 4: 99-108.
Vermeij, G.J.. 1973. West Indian molluscan communities in the
rocky intertidal zone: a morphological approach. Bull. Mar.
Sci.. 23: 351-386.
Vermeij, G., 1978. Biogeography and Adaptation: Patterns of
Marine Life. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 332 pp.
Vermeij, G., 1986. Survival during biotic crises: the properties
and evolutionary significance of refuges. In: D.K. Elliott
(Editor), Dynamics of Extinction. Wiley, New York, pp. 23 I -
246.
Vermeij, G.J., Kay, E.A. and Eldredge, L.G., 1983. Molluscs of
the Northern Mariana Islands, with special reference to the
selectivity of oceanic dispersal barriers. Micronesica, 19: 27-
55.
Veron. J.E.N.. 1985. Aspects of the biogeography of hermatypic
corals. In: Proc. 5th lnt. Coral Reef Congr., 4: 83-88.
Veron, J.E.N.. 1995. Corals in Space and Time.
Comstock/Cornell, Ithaca, New York, 321 pp.
Wang. J., Newton, C.R. and Dunne. L., 1988. Late Triassic
transition from biogenic to arc sedimentation on the Peninsular
terrane: Puale Bay, Alaska peninsula. Geol. Sot. Am. Bull..
loo: 1466-1478.
Watkins, R.. 1985. Volcaniclastic and carbonate sedimentation in
late Paleozoic island-arc deposits, Eastern Klamath Mountains,
California. Geology, 13: 709-7 13.
Watkins, R.. 1990. Carboniferous and Permian island-arc deposits
of the eastern Klamath terrane, California. In: D.S. Harwood
and M.M. Miller (Editors), Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic
Paleogeographic Relations: Sierra Nevada, Klamath Moun-
tains, And Related Terranes. Geol. Sot. Am. Spec. Pap,, 255:
193-200.
Watkins, R., 1993a. Permian carbonate platform development in
an island-arc setting, Eastern Klamath terrane, California. J.
Geol., 101: 659-666.
Watkins, R., 1993b. Carbonate bank sedimentation in a volcani-
elastic arc setting: Lower Carboniferous limestones of the
Eastern Klamath terrane, California. J. Sediment. Petrol., 63:
966-973.
Watkins, R. and Flory, R.A., 1986. island arc sedimentation in the
Middle Devonian Kennett Formation, Eastern Klamath Moun-
tains, California J. Geol., 94: 753-761,
Watkins, R. and Wilson, E.C., 1989. Paleoecologic and biogeo-
graphic significance of the biostromal organism
Palaeoaplysina in the Lower Permian McCloud Limestone,
eastern Klamath Mountains, California. Palaios, 4: 18 I - 192.
Watkins, R., Reinheimer, C.E., Wallace, J.W. and Nestell. M.K..
1987. Paleogeographic significance of a Permian sedimentary
megamictite in the Central Belt of the northern Sierra Nevada.
Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 99: 771-778.
 CM. Soja / Earth-Science Reviews 41 (1996) 31-65
Webby, B.D., 1992. Ordovician island biotas: New South Wales
record and global implications. J. Proc. R. Sot. New South
Wales, 125: 51-77.
Webby, B.D. and Percival, LG., 1983. Ordovician trimerellacean
brachiopod shell beds. Lethaia, 16: 215-232.
Whalen, M.T., 1988. Depositional history of an Upper Triassic
drowned carbonate platform sequence: Wallowa terrane, Ore-
gon and Idaho. Geol. Sot. Am. Bull., 100: 1097-I 110.
Wheeler, C.W. and Aharon, P., 1991. Mid-oceanic carbonate
platforms as oceanic dipsticks: Examples from the Pacific.
Coral Reefs, 10: 101-l 14.
White, J.D.L., White, D.L., Vallier, T., Stanley, G.D., Jr. and Ash,
S.R., 1992. Middle Jurassic strata link Wallowa, Olds Ferry,
and Izee terranes in the accreted Blue Mountains island arc,
northeastern Oregon. Geology, 20: 729-732.
Williams, H., 1985. Paleozoic miogeoclines and suspect terranes
of the North Atlantic region: Cordilleran comparisons. In:
D.G. Howell (Editor), Tectonostratigraphic Terranes of the
Circum-Pacific Region. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy
and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci. Ser., 1: 71-75.
Wilson, J.L., 1990. Basement structural controls on Mesozoic
carbonate facies in northeastern Mexico - A review. In: M.E.
Tucker, J.L. Wilson, P.D. Crevello, J.R. Sarg and J.R. Read
(Editors), Carbonate Platforms: Facies, Sequences and Evolu-
tion. Int. Assoc. Sediment. Spec. Pub]., 9. Blackwell, Boston,
pp. 235-255.
65
Woodhall, D., 1985. Geology of the Lau Ridge. In: D.W. Scholl
and T.L. Vallier (Editors), Geology and Offshore Resources of
Pacific Island Arcs - Tonga Region. Circum-Pacific Council
for Energy and Mineral Resources, Earth Sci. Ser., 2: 351-378.
Constance Soja is an Associate Profes-
sor of Geology at Colgate University.
She earned her B.A. in Earth Science at
Denison University in Granville, Ohio
and her Ph.D. in Geology at the Univer-
sity of Oregon in Eugene. Her research
on Paleozoic fossils and associated car-
bonate deposits in the Alexander terrane
of Alaska aims to determine the condi-
tions that influenced the origin and evo-
lution of marine organisms and carbon-
ate platforms in tectonically active is-
land sites. She is the recipient of several National Science Founda-
tion grants and is author of numerous articles on brachiopods,
stromatolites and microbial communities, nautiloid concentrates,
trace fossils, reef evolution and carbonate platform development.
Recent travels to Shark Bay and the Canning Basin in Australia
and to Russia have enhanced collaborative research recently initi-
ated on Silurian stromatolite reefs in Alaska and the Ural Moun-
tains.