Although many recent reviews emphasize a uniformity in granulite pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions and paths, granulites in reality preserve a spectrum of important petrogenetic features which indicate diversity in their modes of formation. A thorough survey of over 90 granulite terranes or occurrences reveals that over 50% of them record P–T conditions outside the 7.5 ± 1 kbar and 800 ± 50 °C average granulite regime preferred by many authors. In particular, an increasing number of very high temperature (900−1000 °C) terranes are being recognized, both on the basis of distinctive mineral assemblages and geothermobarometry. Petrogenetic grid and geothermobarometric approaches to the determination and interpretation of P–T histories are both evaluated within the context of reaction textures to demonstrate that the large range in P–T conditions is indeed real, and that both near-isothermal decompression (ITD) and near-isobaric cooling (IBC) P–T paths are important. Amphibolite–granulite transitions promoted by the passage of CO2-rich fluids, as observed in southern India and Sri Lanka, are exceptional and not representative of fluid-related processes in the majority of terranes. It is considered, on the contrary, that fluid-absent conditions are typical of most granulites at or near the time of their recorded thermal maxima.

ITD granulites are interpreted to have formed in crust thickened by collision, with magmatic additions being an important extra heat source. Erosion alone is not, however, considered to be the dominant post-collisional thinning process. Instead, the ITD paths are generated during more rapid thinning (1−2 mm/yr exposure) related to tectonic exhumation during moderate-rate or waning extension. IBC granulites may have formed in a variety of settings. Those which show anticlockwise P–T histories are interpreted to have formed in and beneath areas of voluminous magmatic accretion, with or without additional crustal extension. IBC granulites at shallow levels (< 5 kbar) may also be formed during extension of normal thickness crust, but deeper-level IBC requires more complex models. Many granulites exhibiting IBC at deep crustal levels may have formed in thickened crust which underwent very rapid (5 mm/yr) extensional thinning subsequent to collision. It is suggested that the preservation of IBC paths rather than ITD paths in many granulites is primarily related to the rate and timescale of extensional thinning of thickened crust, and that hybrid ITD to IBC paths should also be observed.

Most IBC granulites, and probably many ITD granulites, have not been exposed at the Earth's surface as a result of the tectonic episodes which produced them, but have resided in the middle and lower crust for long periods of time (100−2000 Ma) following these events. The eventual exhumation of most granulite terranes only occur through their incorporation in later tectonic and magmatic events unrelated to their formation.

Archaean komatiite volcanics at Kambalda, Western Australia have been metamorphosed to upper greenschist–lower amphibolite grade and have experienced intense though heterogeneously developed polyphase deformation. Despite this, preservation of igneous textural features is often good, particularly in areas which underwent only ‘static style’ metamorphism. Thin lavas from the Tripod Hill Member of the Kambalda Komatiite Formation over the western margin of the Hunt nickel shoot display textural elements and facies variations which are virtually identical to those found in fresher thin komatiite sequences in other Archaean greenstone belts. Four principal flow profile (facies) types are defined, comprising nine subtypes. These represent stages in a facies continuum, ranging from ‘mature’ profiles which comprise thick spinifex textured tops and close packed cumulate bases through to massive, jointed ‘immature’ profiles devoid of mesoscopic spinifex texture. The causes of textural diversity within and between profiles are many and complex. However, facies variations can be attributed mainly to the effects of lava velocity at the time of major heat loss, combined with relative lateral position within any flow. The most mature textural (and geochemical) profiles developed in parts of lavas which had become ponded prior to major heat loss, whereas the least evolved profiles developed along the lateral margins (levees) of moving lavas. The study area komatiites occur as alternating stacks of flows of similar type. This stratigraphy records temporal and spatial shifts in the locus of lava ponding over the western margin of the Hunt nickel shoot. Such shifts may have been caused by irregularities in the underlying volcanic topography and/or by synvolcanic faulting and subsidence.

B1 subdivisions are narrow foliated zones of stubby, skeletal olivine blades, situated at the top of the granular olivine cumulates (B2) in ponded komatiite lavas. They developed at a late stage in pond crystallization as a result of compaction-related circulation of intercumulus liquids through and along the top of the cumulates. The total thickness of a B1 and its degree of blade parallelism are related to lateral position within ponded lavas. The deeper, hotter and longer-lived core regions generated a thick B1 with a high degree of blade parallelism (ordered B1), whereas the shallower, peripheral regions produced a narrow B1 with a poor degree of blade parallelism (disordered B1), or failed to develop one at all.

The Neihart Quartzite is the basal quartz arenite unit (≍270m thick) of the Mid-Proterozoic Belt Supergroup of western North America. Petrographic studies indicate a source area with plutonic granitic, metamorphic and felsic volcanic rocks. Extreme textural maturity and bimodality indicate an episode of aeolian transport for the detrital quartz grains. The lower 80% of the Neihart Quartzite were probably deposited by braided streams, whereas the upper 20% were deposited in shoreline environments. Residual material that was ‘stored up’ on the pre-Beltian cratonic surface and underwent aeolian reworking was the likely source material for most of the Neihart Quartzite. Less mature sediments in the top portion of the Neihart Quartzite indicate uplift and erosion of new source material during Neihart deposition. Other known cratonic quartz arenites, such as the St. Peter Sandstone (Ordovician), Lamotte Sandstone (Cambrian) and Flathead Quartzite (Cambrian), are thin (tens of metres thickness) and exhibit sheet-like geometry. In contrast, the Neihart Quartzite and its probable lateral equivalents are considerably thicker and increase in thickness towards the central portions of the basin. It thus appears that Belt sedimentation began with accumulation of a basal quartz arenite unit, and that sand for that unit was transported by braided streams from the surrounding craton to a gradually subsiding Belt basin.

The lithological and biotic succession across the late Precambrian to early Cambrian interval is outlined for the Dalir and Valiabad successions of the Elburz Mountains of Iran. The Lower Dolomite Member contains an assemblage of phosphatic tubes and other poorly preserved remains. The succeeding Lower Shale Member bears macroscopic chuariamorphid algae. Early skeletal fossil diversity rises through the Middle Dolomite Member, with the successive appearance of Protohertzina anabarica, Cambrotubulus decurvatus and Anabarites trisulcatus, culminating near the top of the dolomites with the appearance of Purella sp., Maikhanella multa, Tiksitheca licis and circothecids. This succession is compared with lower to upper parts of the Nemakit-Daldyn Formation of Siberia. The overlying Upper Shale Member bears phosphatic beds at its base with allathecids and an uncoiled pelagiellid (?Aldanella sp.) that suggest comparison with lower Tommotian strata and the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary phosphorite event of southern and central Asia. A rich assemblage of molluscs appears high in the Upper Shale Member, including the Latouchella korobkovi group and the Pelagiella lorenzi group. The succession is broadly homotaxial with those from the Siberian Platform and Mongolia and those platforms bordering Gondwana (India, Kazakhstan, South China).

A well-known tectonic event affecting the East Mediterranean region, generally referred to as ‘the’ Miocene–Pliocene phase, occurs at, or near the Miocene–Pliocene boundary. Recent sedimentological studies in Cyprus indicate that this ‘event’, in fact, is complex. The Tortonian–Lower Pliocene period is marked by a stress involving an N20 extension in the Polemi and Pissouri basins and by an N100 extension in the Psematismenos basin. Sedimentological studies have demonstrated three tectonic pulsations during Messinian time, prior to the Pliocene transgression. These are expressed by two episodes of seismic brecciation, and a palaeo-emersion is indicated by palaeosols and detrital discharges. These phenomena suggest brief tectonic instability during Messinian time. Microtectonic studies in the South Troodos basins of Cyprus reveal that the main change in tectonic stress does not coincide with the Miocene–Pliocene contact but occurs at the end of Lower Pliocene time. The authors conclude that the so-called Miocene–Pliocene ‘event’, in reality, is a series of subtle tectonic pulsations recorded clearly by sedimentary parameters.

Microfossils of plant protists called acritarchs occur embedded in, mostly, authigenic chlorite cement in sandstones of the Visingsö Group (Upper Proterozoic; southern Sweden). These microfossils are commonly encrusted by a Mn-oxide layer. Similar Mn-oxide was not observed elsewhere in the sandstones, thus suggesting that certain acritarchs have played a role in the transfer and precipitation of Mn in ancient sedimentary environments. In the light of available information on the role of extant protists in biomineralization, possible mechanisms for the precipitation of Mnoxide in the Visingsö Group are discussed.