Stratigraphy lies at the heart of geology and we have set for ourselves the rather daunting task of describing, albeit in summary fonn, the regional stratigraphy of North America. Our purpose is to develop a stratigraphic framework against which to view the history of the continent and with which to test ideas about Earth mechanics. No such treatment can ever be complete, as ours is not, but we hope the attempt will provide the reader with at least a working summary of North American stratigraphy and geological history.

Granites from the Tunka pluton of the Sarkhoi complex, located in the eastern Tunka bald mountains (East Sayan), have been dated at the Middle Ordovician (462.6 ± 7.8 Ma) by LA ICP MS. The granites of the Sarkhoi complex within the studied area cut a foldthrust structure consisting of deformed fragments of the Vendian (Ediacaran)–Early Cambrian cover of the Tuva–Mongolian microcontinent (Upper Shumak metaterrigenous formation, Gorlyk carbonate formation). The red-colored conglomerates and sandstones of the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous(?) Sagan-Sair Formation overlie the eroded surface of the Tunka pluton granites in the eastern Tunka bald mountains. The Sagan-Sair Formation, in turn, is overlain along a low-angle thrust by a group of tectonic sheets, which comprises the volcanic and carbonate sediments of the Tolta Formation, biotitic schists, and plagiogneisses with garnet amphibolite bodies. Two nappe generations have been revealed on the basis of the described geologic relationships, the Middle Ordovician age of the Tunka pluton granites, and numerous Late Paleozoic Ar–Ar dates of syntectonic minerals from the metamorphic rocks in the area. The first thrusting stage was pre-Middle Ordovician, and the second, Late Carboniferous–Permian. The Lower Paleozoic thrust structure resulted from the accretion of the Tuva–Mongolian microcontinent to the Siberian Platform. The Late Paleozoic nappes resulted from intracontinental orogeny and the reactivation of an Early Paleozoic accretionary belt under the effect of the Late Paleozoic collisional events

Remote sensing is the science and art of obtaining information about an object, area, or phenomenon through the analysis of data acquired by a device that is not in contact with the object, area, or phenomenon under investigation. As you read these words, you are employing remote sensing. Your eyes are acting as sensors that respond to the light reflected from this page. The “data” your eyes acquire are impulses corresponding to the amount of light reflected from the dark and light areas on the page. These data are analyzed, or interpreted, in your mental computer to enable you to explain the dark areas on the page as a collection of letters forming words. Beyond this, you recognize that the words form sentences, and you interpret the information that the sentences convey. <...>

Chiara Colombero, Cesare Comina and Alberto Godio Special Issue “Remote Sensing in Applied Geophysics”
Edward R. Henry, Alice P. Wright, Sarah C. Sherwood, Stephen B. Carmody, Casey R. Barrier and Christopher Van de Ven Beyond Never-Never Land: Integrating LiDAR and Geophysical Surveys at the Johnston Site, Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park, Tennessee, USA
Luca Piroddi, Sergio Vincenzo Calcina, Antonio Trogu and Gaetano Ranieri Automated Resistivity Profiling (ARP) to Explore Wide Archaeological Areas: The Prehistoric Site of Mont’e Prama, Sardinia, Italy
Rita Deiana, David Vicenzutto, Gian Piero Deidda, Jacopo Boaga and Michele Cupit `o Remote Sensing, Archaeological, and Geophysical Data to Study the Terramare Settlements: The Case Study of Fondo Paviani (Northern Italy)