Book excerpt: "Exposed crustal cross sections provide a unique direct view of continental crust, and are a major source of insights into variations in lithologic and geochemical composition, structural style, metamorphism, plutonism, and rheology with progressive depth through the crust. This volume provides a synthesis of crustal cross sections with a special emphasis on Phanerozoic sections from the western North American Cordillera, supplemented by articles on lower- and mid-crustal sections through Proterozoic crust in North America and Australia, and the classic crustal section of Fiordland, New Zealand. Many of the papers describe multidisciplinary research on crustal sections and include data from various combinations of structural analysis, geochemistry, geothermobarometry, geochronology, geophysics, and other disciplines. The volume also discusses common problems for the interpretation of crustal cross sections, including how sections that expose deep-crustal rocks are eventually exhumed, and leading to the conclusion that there is no simple 'standard model' for continental crust. This volume will be useful to those interested in structural geology, tectonics, geodynamics, regional geology, petrology, geochemistry/isotope geology, and geophysics."--Pub. desc.