An exotic terrane is a piece or fragment of continent that has broken off from its parent continent and become accreted to another continent. Thus it is exotic to the continent that it has become a member of, and is not native to that continent and did not become accreted to the continent as a newly formed terrane, but as an existing one from another continent. Dymaxion map by Buckminster Fuller shows land mass with minimal distortion as only one continuous continent A continent (Latin continere, to hold together) is a large continuous land mass. ... A terrane in paleogeography is an accretion that has collided with a continental nucleus, or craton but can be recognized by the foreign origin of its rock strata. ...
A terrane in paleogeography is an accretion that has collided with a continental nucleus, or "craton" but can be recognized by the foreign origin of its rock strata.
The boundaries of a terrane are usually represented by crustal faults.
In the lithospheric scheme of plate tectonics, a terrane is not a microplate, but a piece of crust "riding" atop another plate.
Terrane accretion is most common at convergent plate boundaries, but it may be possible for a terrane to be brought from an exotic location along a transform plate boundary.
Terranes were a mystery to geologists until plate tectonic theory allowed them to see how pieces of the crust could be moved and added to a continent far from where they had originated.
The geologic history of an accreted terrane is different from the geologic history of nearby rocks that are native to the continent, indicating that it is exotic.
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