Including Mexico, Central America, The Caribbean and The Antarctic Peninsula

General Submission of Papers
From now on, all manuscripts should be submitted electronically through Elsevier Editorial System (EES) which can be accessed at http://www.ees.elsevier.com/sames. Submission of a paper implies that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that if accepted it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the publisher. Submissions should be original and comprise previously unpublished data, interpretations, or syntheses. Invited review papers will also be considered.

Submission of a multi-authored manuscript implies the consent of all the participating authors.

Papers must be in English only, and may include an abstract in Spanish or Portuguese, in addition to the English abstract. With the submitted manuscript authors should provide the names, addresses, e-mail addresses and fax numbers of four suggested reviewers. Manuscript Preparation
General: Manuscripts must be in double-spaced form with wide margins and numbered lines! A font size of 12 pt is required. The corresponding author should be identified (include a Fax number and E-mail address). Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Authors should consult a recent issue of the journal or the journal's website ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/sames) for style if possible. The Editor reserves the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity.

Paper Length: The maximum number of words per article is 19,000.

Text: Follow this order when composing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Figure Captions and then Tables. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your text. The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk and footnote. All other footnotes (except for table footnotes) should be identified with superscript Arabic numbers.

Units: SI units are preferred. Use negative indices rather than leave space between symbols. e.g. m s-1, not ms-1 or :m s.

Mathematics: Authors must provide clear instructions about how they wish symbols to be set. The editors will supply a style sheet. If your manuscript contains Greek or other non-Roman letters please indicate in words in the left-hand margin the name of the symbol the first time that it is used in the text. Equations are generally introduced as parts of sentences; they require punctuation.

References: All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. In the text refer to the authors' name (without initials) and year of publication (e.g. "Since Peterson (1993) has shown that..." or "This is in the agreement with results obtained later (Kramer, 1994)"). For three or more authors use the first author followed by "et al.", in the text. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of authors' names and dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list.
References should be given in the following form:

Durney, D.W., Ramsay, J.G., 1973. Incremental strains measured by syntectonic crystal growths. In:
De Jong, K.A., Scholten, R. (Eds.), Gravity and Tectonics. Wiley, New York, pp. 67-96.
Friedman, G.M., Sanders, J.E., 1978. Principles of Sedimentology. Wiley, New York. Pedrosa Soares, A.C., Noce, C.M., Vidal, Ph., Monteiro, R.L.B.P., Leonardos, O.H., 1992. Towards a new tectonic model for the late Proterozoic Aracuai (SE Brazil)-West Congolian (SW Africa). Belt. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 6 (1/2) 33-47.


Illustrations: Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to as "Figure(s)" and should be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within the text. All illustrations should be clearly marked with the figure number. All figures are to have a caption.LaTeX documents: If the LaTeX file is suitable, proofs will be produced without rekeying the text. The article should preferably be written using Elsevier's document class "elsart", or alternatively the standard document class "article". The Elsevier LaTeX package (including detailed instructions for LaTeX preparation) can be obtained from: http://www.elsevier.com/latex or from the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN): see below, in the directory /tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/supported/elsevier. It consists of the files: elsart.cls, guidelines for users of elsart, a template file for quick start, and the instruction booklet "Preparing articles with LaTeX". CTAN is an archive with up-to-date copies of all the public-domain versions of TeX, LaTeX, Metafont and ancillary programs, which is made available via a mirrored network of FTP servers. You can enter the CTAN archive via a Web interface in the UK (http://www.tex.ac.uk), in the USA (http://www.ctan.org), or in Germany (http://www.dante.de/software/ctan) (page in German). You can search for a package on CTAN via http://www.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/ctan/. You can also enter the archive via FTP at ftp.tex.ac.uk, at ftp.dante.de, at ctan.tug.org, or at one of the many mirror servers; see for a list the UK or USA CTAN Web pages. When a CTAN server does not respond, please try another one. Note that CTAN is not related to Elsevier, and that Elsevier's author support cannot accept complaints or answer questions about the availability of any CTAN server. Figures may be inserted in the usual way using an \includegraphics command, at the position in the article where they are cited.

IMPORTANT: In the PDF file, all figures and tables must be numbered and collected at the END of the manuscript. In addition, please indicate clearly in the text where each figure/table should be positioned!

Line drawings: All lettering, graph lines and points on graphs should be sufficiently large and bold to permit reproduction when the diagram has been reduced to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal. Dye-line prints or photocopies are not suitable for reproduction. Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.
Photographs: Original photographs must be supplied as they are to be reproduced (e.g. black and white or colour). If necessary, a scale should be marked on the photograph. Please note that photocopies of photographs are not acceptable.
Colour: Colour illustrations will be accepted; however, the authors will be expected to make a contribution towards the extra printing cost. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g., Science Direct and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to 'grey scale' (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.

Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively and given a suitable caption and each table typed on a separate sheet. Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters. No vertical rules should be used. Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript, (e.g. in graphs).

Proofs
When your manuscript is received by the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'.
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
A form with queries from the Copyeditor may accompany your proofs. Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required.
The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within 3 days of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this.
Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete. Note that this does not mean you have less time to make your corrections - but that only one set of corrections will be accepted.

Reprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.

Copyright
All authors must sign the "Transfer of Copyright" agreement before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Elsevier Ltd.. to protect the copyrighted material for the authors, without the author relinquishing his/her proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microfilm or any other reproductions of a similar nature, and translations. It also includes the right to adapt the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any material for which copyright already exists.

Author Enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors. Authors can also keep a track on the progress of their accepted article, and set up e-mail alerts informing them of changes to their manuscript's status, by using the "Track a Paper" feature of Elsevier's via http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. For privacy, information on each article is password-protected. The author should key in the "Our Reference" code (which is in the letter of acknowledgement sent by the publisher on receipt of the accepted article) and the name of the corresponding author. In case of problems or questions, authors may contact the Author Service Department, E-mail: authorssupport@elsevier.com

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided when an article is accepted for publication. Authors in Japan kindly note: Upon request Elsevier Japan will provide a list of people who can check and improve the English of an article (before submission). Please contact our Tokyo office: Elsevier Japan K.K., 1-9-15 Higashi Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044, Japan; tel.: +81-3-5561-5032; fax: +81-3-5561-5045; e-mail: jp.info@elsevier.com.