Friday 18 January 2013

The geological history of the British Isles (part 1)

To put the Carboniferous into context I re-read the Open University book in the title of the post. I possess no artistic skills at all but have drawn the following cartoons which shows the main stages with no reference to paleolatitude. They are obviously not to scale or the correct shape either!

Scotland and the rest of the British Isles are on different landmasses
Avalonia separates from Gondwana and begins its journey across the Iapetus
The Iapetus closes, the Rheic opens
Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia collide in the Caledonian Orogeny as the Iapetus finally closes
The Rheic closes and Pangea forms in the Variscan Orogeny

 

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