New Perspectives on the Old Red Sandstone
From the 1960s onwards, the Old Red Sandstone of both borders of the Atlantic Ocean has acted as a test-bed for the development of new ideas on the interpretation of fluvial, lacustrine and aeolian sedimentary rocks, and the investigation of tectonically-active basins. Much of the earlier reconnaissance work is now being reviewed in the light of further detailed field study, along with new developments in the understanding of the biostratigraphy, palaeobiology, geochronology, pedogenesis and tectonics.
Three general papers review recent work on the stratigraphical and chronological analysis of the Late Silurian, Devonian and Early Carboniferous strata, and summarize present understanding of the tectonics of the basins. These are then followed by twenty-seven contributions covering new work in Eastern USA, Canada, Ireland, Britain, Norway, Greenland and Spitsbergen.
Kinematics and dynamics of Old Red Sandstone basins
-
Published:January 01, 2000
Abstract
The Old Red Sandstone basins of the North Atlantic borderlands provide a record of diverse dynamics in very different settings, related to the Variscan, Caledonian and Ellesmerian orogenies. This paper is a first attempt to review much new information on the basins, including information presented, for the first time, in this book. Five basin groupings are distinguished: (1) Scandinavian basins of, syn- to post-Scandian (Caledonian) age, formed on greatly thickened crust by extension or transtension (Western Norway, East Greenland, Spitsbergen); (2) NE Scotland, Orcadian Basin, mid Caledonian setting, formed by extension; (3) Scotland (Midland Valley) and related Irish basins, north of the Caledonian Iapetus Suture Zone, formed by extension; (4) southern Britain and Ireland, basins south of the Iapetus Suture Zone, related to collision of Eastern Avalonia with Laurentia, and Maritime Canada and the Catskills related to collision of Western Avalonia; these are load-induced flexural basins; (5) Southern margin of Eastern Avalonia, (Munster, South Wales, SW England), of Late Devonian age, extensional basins of various (Early to Late) Devonian ages.