Fifty Years of the Wilson Cycle Concept in Plate Tectonics
CONTAINS OPEN ACCESS

Fifty years ago, Tuzo Wilson published his paper asking ‘Did the Atlantic close and then re-open?’. This led to the ‘Wilson Cycle’ concept in which the repeated opening and closing of ocean basins along old orogenic belts is a key process in the assembly and breakup of supercontinents. The Wilson Cycle underlies much of what we know about the geological evolution of the Earth and its lithosphere, and will no doubt continue to be developed as we gain more understanding of the physical processes that control mantle convection, plate tectonics, and as more data become available from currently less accessible regions.
This volume includes both thematic and review papers covering various aspects of the Wilson Cycle concept. Thematic sections include: (1) the Classic Wilson v. Supercontinent Cycles, (2) Mantle Dynamics in the Wilson Cycle, (3) Tectonic Inheritance in the Lithosphere, (4) Revisiting Tuzo's question on the Atlantic, (5) Opening and Closing of Oceans, and (6) Cratonic Basins and their place in the Wilson Cycle.
Late Paleozoic extensional reactivation of the Rheic–Rhenohercynian suture zone in SW England, the English Channel and Western Approaches
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Published:November 11, 2019
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CiteCitation
Andrew C. Alexander, Robin K. Shail, Brian E. Leveridge, 2019. "Late Paleozoic extensional reactivation of the Rheic–Rhenohercynian suture zone in SW England, the English Channel and Western Approaches", Fifty Years of the Wilson Cycle Concept in Plate Tectonics, R. W. Wilson, G. A. Houseman, K. J. W. McCaffrey, A. G. Doré, S. J. H. Buiter
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Abstract
The Rheic Ocean is a persistent feature of Paleozoic palaeogeographies whose closure contributed to the development of the Variscan Orogen and the formation of Pangaea. Geological and geophysical data indicate repeated episodes of Paleozoic rifting and plate convergence around SW England and the adjacent offshore areas. SW England occupied a lower plate position during the Devonian–Carboniferous, on the northern passive margin of the short-lived Rhenohercynian Ocean that had formed near a recently closed segment of the Rheic Ocean. Variscan plate convergence resulted in the development of the composite southwards-dipping Rheic–Rhenohercynian suture zone by the latest Devonian and inversion of...