Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T23:39:56.245Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Carboniferous North Atlantic palaeogeography: stratigraphic evidence for rifting, not megashear or subduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

R. S. Haszeldine
R. S. Haszeldine
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Geology, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XJ, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Three theories have been proposed for the origin of Carboniferous basins in Britain: megashear; tension from Rheic Ocean subduction; tension from rifting of the North Atlantic. The first two hypotheses are rejected because they do not explain the Carboniferous volcanism, Stephanian dyke swarm, Boreal marine transgressions during the late Carboniferous and Permian, Carboniferous sedimentary basin histories, basin types or basin orientations.

Carboniferous volcanics were rift-related due to crustal thinning, which also resulted in the formation of sedimentary basins in the British Isles and a marine transgression of Tethyan faunas. Newly formed Carboniferous fracture lines and basin orientations showed that tension varied between east–west and northwest–southeast. Crustal fracturing in the latest Dinantian, possibly due to collision of microcontinents in the closing Rheic and Phoibic oceans with North America, led to the synchronous initiation of rift basins in East Greenland, elevation of source areas for the Millstone Grit of the British Isles, and formation of transform fault zones near Svalbard and North Spain. The narrow, rapidly subsiding, quickly changing ‘fosse’ basins which formed in these transcurrent fault zones contrast with the coeval stable, slower subsiding rift-parallel ‘saucer’ basins of the British Isles. Variations of subsidence rates in all these basins allow interpretations of crustal stress history. Brittle fracturing in the Westphalian C formed the first oceanic crust, but free oceanic spreading from Spain to southwest of the Faeroes only occurred after Stephanian dyke intrusion and crustal thinning at the Faeroes. The Norwegian Sea underwent continental crustal thinning. Ocean spreading and crustal thinning ceased in latest Stephanian times.

Boreal marine transgressions advanced down the newly thinned Norwegian Sea, firstly along its northern part and then reaching the North Sea basins and Germany in the Rotliegendes and Zechstein. Synsedimetary ore deposits formed during early tensional fracturing of the crust; thick coal sequences formed in rift-parallel basins during clastic source decay of elevated rift margins; oil source rocks formed along narrow oceanic or continental rifts from the Westphalian C onwards.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 121 , Issue 5 , September 1984 , pp. 443 - 463
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ager, D. V. 1980. The geology of Europe. U.K.: McGraw-Hill. 535 pp.Google Scholar
Andrew, C. J. & Ashton, J. H. 1982. Mineral Textures, metal zoning and ore environment of the Navan ore-body, Ireland. In Mineral Exploration in Ireland, progress and developments 1971–1981 (ed. Brown, A. G.), pp. 35–46. Irish Association for Economic Geology.Google Scholar
Armstrong, G. 1972. Review of the geology of the British Continental Shelf. Mining Engineer 131, 463–81.Google Scholar
Arthaud, F. & Matte, P. 1977. Late Palaeozoic strike-slip faulting in southern Europe and northern Africa: result of a right-lateral shear zone between the Appalachians and the Urals. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 88, 1305–20.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arthurton, R. S. 1983. The Skipton Rock Fault – an Hercynian wrench fault associated with the Skipton Anticline, N.W. England. Geological Journal 18, 105–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belt, E. S. 1968. Carboniferous continental sedimentation, Atlantic Provinces, Canada. Special Paper of the Geological Society of America 106, 127–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belt, E. S. 1969. Newfoundland Carboniferous stratigraphy and its relations to the Maritimes and Ireland. In North Atlantic Geology and Continental Drift. Memoir of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, no. 12, (ed. Kay, M.), pp. 734–53. Tulsa.Google Scholar
Birkelund, T. & Perch-Nielsen, K. 1976. Late Palaeozoic–Mesozoic evolution of central East Greenland. In Geology of Greenland (ed Escher, A. & Watt, W. S.), pp. 304–39. Copenhagen: Grønlands Geologiske Undersogelse.Google Scholar
Bless, M. J. M., Bouckaert, J., Calver, M. A., Graulich, J. M. & Paproth, E. 1977. Palaeogeography of Upper Westphalian deposits in N.W. Europe. Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst Neue Serie 28, 101–47.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1978. Sedimentation in a late orogenic basin: the Old Red Sandstone of the Midland Valley of Scotland. In Crustal Evolution in Northwest Britain and Adjacent Regions. Special Issue of the Geological Journal, no. 10, (ed. Bowes, D. R. & Leake, B. E.), pp. 249–78.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1980. Evolution of a strike-slip fault-controlled basin, Upper ORS, Scotland. In Sedimentation in Oblique-slip Mobile Zones. Special Publication of the International Association of Sedimentologists, no. 4, (ed. Ballance, P. F. & Reading, H. G.), pp. 63–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bott, M. H. P. 1971. Evolution of young continental margins and formation of shelf basins. Tectonophysics 11, 319–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bott, M. H. P. 1976. Formation of sedimentary basins of graben type by extension of the continental crust. Tectonophysics 36, 77–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bott, M. H. P. & Johnson, G. A. L. 1966. The controlling mechanism of Carboniferous cyclic sedimentation. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 122, 421–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyce, A. J., Anderton, R. & Russell, M. J. 1983. Rapid subsidence and early Carboniferous base-metal mineralization in Ireland. Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 92, B55–B66.Google Scholar
Bradley, D. C. 1982. Subsidence in late Palaeozoic basins in the northern Appalachians. Tectonics 1, 107–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, C. & Girdler, R. W. 1982. Structure of the Red Sea at 20° N from gravity data and its implications for continental margins. Nature 298, 51–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrett, C. & Griffiths, J. 1977. A case for a mid-European ocean. In La Chaine Varisque d'Europe Moyenne et Occidentale. Coll. Intern. CNRS 243, 313–28. Rennes.Google Scholar
Calver, M. A. 1979. Westphalian of Britain. In Comptes Rendus, 6th International Congress of Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology, vol. 1, pp. 233–54.Google Scholar
Christie, R. L. 1979. The Franklinian Geosyncline in the Canadian Arctic and its relationship to Svalbard. Norsk Polarinstitut Skrift 167, 263–311.Google Scholar
Collinson, J. D. 1972. The Røde Ø conglomerate of inner Scoresbysund and the Carboniferous and Permian rocks W of the Schuchert flod. Meddelelser om Grønland 192/6, 48 pp.Google Scholar
Craig, L. C. & Connor, C. W. 1979. Palaeotectonic investigations of the Mississippian system in the U.S.A. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper, no. 1010.Google Scholar
Cutbill, J. L. & Challinor, A. 1965. Revision of the stratigraphic scheme for the Carboniferous and Permian rocks of Spitzbergen and Bjørnøya. Geological Magazine 102, 418–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawes, P. R. 1976. Precambrian to Tertiary of northern Greenland. In Geology of Greenland (ed. Escher, A. & Watt, W. S.), pp. 248–303. Copenhagen: Grønlands Geologiske Undersogelse.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. F. 1982. Plate tectonics and the evolution of the British Isles. Journal of the Geological Society of London 139, 371–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donovan, R. N. & Meyerhoff, A. A. 1982. Comments on palaeomagnetic evidence for a large sinistral offset along the Great Glen Fault during Carboniferous time. Geology 10, 604–7.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas, R. J. W. 1970. Geology and economic minerals of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada Economic Geology Report, no. 1.Google Scholar
Dutro, J. T. & Saldukas, R. B. 1973. Permian palaeogeography of the Arctic. Journal of Research of the United States Geological Survey 1, 501–7.Google Scholar
Eames, T. D. 1975. Coal rank and gas source relationships – Rotliegendes reservoirs. In Petroleum Geology and the Continental Shelf of Northwest Europe, vol. 1 (ed. Woodland, A. W.), pp. 191–201. Essex: Applied Science.Google Scholar
Ebbern, J. 1981. The geology of the Morecambe gas field. In Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of Northwest Europe (ed. Illing, L. V. & Hobson, W. D.), pp. 485–93. London: Heyden.Google Scholar
Falke, H. 1976. Problems of the continental Permian in the Federal Republic of Germany. In The Continental Permian in Central, West and South Europe (ed. Falke, H.), pp. 38–52. Holland: D. Riedel Publishing Co.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, E. H. 1967. Review of Carboniferous–Permian volcanicity in Scotland. Geologische Rundschau 57, 219–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, E. H. 1978. Igneous activity in a fractured craton, Carboniferous volcanism in northern Britain. In Crustal Evolution in Northwest Britain and Adjacent Regions. Geological Journal Special Issue, no. 10 (ed. Bowes, D. R. & Leake, B. E.), pp. 279–96.Google Scholar
Gardiner, P. R. R. 1978. Is the Hercynian Front in Ireland a local feature? Nature 271, 538–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardiner, P. R. R. & Sheridan, D. J. R. 1981. Tectonic framework of the Celtic Sea and adjacent areas with special reference to the location of the Variscan front. Journal of Structural Geology 3, 317–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, T. N. 1958. Lower Carboniferous palaeogeography of the British Isles. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 31, 227–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, T. N., Johnson, G. A. L., Mitchell, M., Prentice, J. E., Ramsbottom, W. H. C., Sevastopulo, G. D. & Wilson, R. B. 1976. Correlation of Dinantian rocks in the British Isles. Geological Society of London Special Report, no. 6, 87 pp.Google Scholar
Gersib, G. A. & McCabe, P. J. 1981. Continental coal-bearing sediments of the Port Hood Formation (Carboniferous), Nova Socia. In Recent and Ancient Non-marine Depositional Environments. Special Publication of the Society of Economic Palaeontologists and Mineralogists, no. 31 (ed. Ethridge, F. G. & Flores, R. M.), pp. 95–108. Tulsa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Girdler, R. W. & Styles, P. 1974. Two stage Red Sea floor spreading. Nature 274, 7–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gjelberg, J. G. & Steel, R. J. 1981. An outline of Lower–Middle Carboniferous sedimentation on Svalbard: effects of tectonic, climatic and sea level changes in rift basin sequences. In Geology of the North Atlantic Borderlands. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, no. 7 (ed. Kerr, J. W. & Fergusson, A. J.), pp. 543–61. Calgary.Google Scholar
Goodlet, G. A. 1957. Lithological variation in the Lower Limestone Group of the Midland Valley of Scotland. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Great Britain 12, 52–65.Google Scholar
Hall, S. & Girdler, R. 1961. Evidence for oceanic crust beneath the main trough and margins of the Red Sea. EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 62, 1033 (abstract).Google Scholar
Haller, J. 1971. Geology of the E. Greenland Caledonides. London: Wiley-Interscience; pp. 95–108.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B., Cox, A. V., Llewellyn, P. G., Pickton, C. A. G., Smith, A. G. & Walters, R. 1982. A geologic time scale. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. & Gayer, R. A. 1972. The Arctic Caledonides and earlier oceans. Geological Magazine 109, 289–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heward, A. P. & Reading, H. G. 1980. Deposits associated with a Hercynian to late Hercynian strike-slip system, Cantabrian mountains, N. Spain. In Sedimentation in Oblique-slip Mobile Zones. Special Publication of the International Association of Sedimentologists, no. 4 (ed. Ballance, P. F. & Reading, H. G.), pp. 104–25.Google Scholar
Howie, R. D. & Barss, M. S. 1975. Palaeogeography and sedimentation in the Upper Palaeozoic, eastern Canada. In Canada's Continental Margins and Offshore Petroleum Exploration. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, no. 4 (ed. Yorath, C. J.), pp. 543–61.Google Scholar
Jansa, L. F., Mamet, B. & Roux, A. 1978. Viséan limestones from the Newfoundland shelf. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 15, 1422–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, G. A. L. 1973. Closing of the Carboniferous sea in western Europe. In Implications of Continental Drift to the Earth Sciences, vol. 2 (ed. Tarling, D. H. & Runcorn, S. K.), pp. 845–50. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. A. L. 1981. Geographical evolution from Laurasia to Pangea. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 43, 221–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, G. A. L. 1982. Geographical change in Britain during the Carboniferous period. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 44, 181–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, E. J. W. 1978. Seismic evidence for sedimentary troughs of Mesozoic age on the Hebridean continental margin. Nature 272, 789–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelling, G. 1974. Upper Carboniferous sedimentation in South Wales. In Upper Palaeozoic and post-Palaeozoic rocks of Wales (ed. Owen, T. R.), pp. 185–224. Cardiff: University of Wales.Google Scholar
Kent, P. E. 1966. The structure of the concealed Carboniferous rocks of N.E. England. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 35, 323–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerr, J. W. 1981. Evolution of the Canadian Arctic islands; a transition between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. In The Ocean Basins and Margins. Arctic, vol. 5 (ed. Nairn, A. E. M., Churkin, M. & Stehli, F. G.), pp. 105–200. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1974 a. Lower Border Group fluvio deltaic sedimentation and palaeogeography of the Northumberland basin. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 40, 129–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1974 b. The origin of the Northumberland Basin. Scottish Journal of Geology 10, 283–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1976. Sedimentary facies and the origins of basin subsidence along the northern margin of the supposed Hercynian ocean. Tectonophysics 36, 167–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1979. Carboniferous environments and basin evolution. In A dynamic Stratigraphy of the British Isles (by Anderton, R., Bridges, P. H., Leeder, M. R. & Sellwood, B. W.), pp. 138–74. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Leeder, M. R. 1982. Upper Palaeozoic basins of the British Isles: Caledonide inheritance versus Hercynian plate margin processes. Journal of the Geological Society of London 139, 481–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lorenz, V. & Nicholls, I. A. 1975.The Permocarboniferous basin and range province of Europe. In The Continental Permian of Central, W. and S. Europe (ed. Falke, H.), pp. 313–42. Holland: Riedel Publishing Co.Google Scholar
MacDonald, R. 1975. Petrochemistry of the early Carboniferous (Dinantian) lavas of Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology 11, 269–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, R., Gottfried, D., Farrington, M. J., Brown, F. W. & Skinner, N. G. 1981. Geochemistry of a continental tholeiite suite: late Palaeozoic quartz dolerite dykes of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Science 72, 57–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKee, E. D. & Crosby, E. J. 1975. Palaeotectonic investigations of the Pennsylvanian system in the United States. Professional Paper of the United States Geological Survey, no. 853.Google Scholar
McKee, E. D. et al. 1967. Palaeotectonic maps of the Permian system. United States Geological Survey Miscellaneous inventory Map I–450, 164 pp.Google Scholar
McKenzie, D. P. 1978. Some remarks on the development of sedimentary basins. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 40, 25–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKerrow, W. S. & Ziegler, A. M. 1972. Palaeozoic oceans. Nature 240, 93–5.Google Scholar
McLean, A. C. 1978. Evolution of fault-controlled ensialic basins in N.W. Britain. In Crustal Evolution in N.W. Britain and Adjacent Regions. Geological Journal Special Issue, no. 10 (ed. Bowes, D. R. & Leake, B. E.), pp. 325–46. Liverpool: Seel House.Google Scholar
Maher, C. E. 1981. The Piper oilfield. In Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of N. W. Europe (ed. Illing, C. V. & Hobson, G. D.), pp. 358–70. London: Heyden.Google Scholar
Miller, J. & Grayson, R. F. 1972. Origin and structure of the Lower Viséan ‘reef’ limestones near Clitheroe, Lancashire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 38, 607–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, J. & Grayson, R. F. 1982. The regional context of Waulsortian facies in northern England. In Symposium on the Palaeoenvironmental Setting and Distribution of Waulsortian Facies, pp. 17–33. El Paso Geological Society and University of Texas.Google Scholar
Mitchell, A. H. G. 1974. Southwest England granites, magmatism and tin mineralisation in a post-collision tectonic setting. Transactions of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 83, B95–B97.Google Scholar
Morris, W. A. 1976. Transcurrent motion determined palaeomagnetically in the northern Appalachians and Caledonides, and the Acadian orogeny. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 13, 1236–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nassichuk, W. W. & Davies, G. R. 1980. Stratigraphy and sedimentation of the Otto Fjord Formation. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, no. 286.Google Scholar
Olaussen, S. 1981. Marine incursion in Upper Palaeozoic sediments of the Oslo region. Geological Magazine 118, 281–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliveira, J. T., Horn, M. & Paproth, E. 1979. Preliminary note on the stratigraphy of the Baixo Alentejo Flysch Group, Carboniferous of southern Portugal. Communication Services Geologicos de Portugal 65, 151–68.Google Scholar
Outlaw, B. D. & Bennett, G. G. 1982. Geology and hydrocarbon potential, Western Approaches Basin, U.K. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 66, 615 (abstract).Google Scholar
Pedersen, K. R. 1976. Fossil Floras of Greenland. In Geology of Greenland(ed. Escher, A. & Watt, W. S.), pp. 518–35. Copenhagen: Grønlands Geologiske Undersogelse.Google Scholar
Phillips, W. E. A., Flegg, A. M. & Anderson, T. B. 1979. Strain adjacent to the Iapetus suture in Ireland. In The Caledonides of the British Isles Reviewed (ed. Harris, A. G., Holland, C. H. & Leake, B. E.), pp. 257–62. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Price, I. & Rattey, R. P. 1984. Cretaceous tectonics of mid-Norway: implications for the Rockall Faeroes–Shetland Rift. Journal of the Geological Society of London, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsbottom, W. H. C. 1971.Palaeogeography and goniatite distribution of the Namurian and early Westphalian. Comptes Rendus 6th Congress Internationale du Stratigraphie et Geologie Carboniferous, vol. 1, pp. 1395–400.Google Scholar
Ramsbottom, W. H. C. 1978. Namurian mesothems in South Wales and North France. Journal of the Geological Society of London 135, 307–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsbottom, W. H. C. 1979. Rates of regression and transgression in the Carboniferous of N.W. Europe. Journal of the Geological Society of London 136, 147–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsbottom, W. H. C., Calver, M. A., Eagar, R. M. C., Hodson, F., Holliday, D. W., Stubblefield, G. J. & Wilson, R. B. 1978. A correlation of Silesian rocks in the British Isles. Geological Society of London Special Report, no. 10, 81 pp.Google Scholar
Read, W. A. 1981. Facies breaks in the Scottish Passage Group and their possible correlation with the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian hiatus. Scottish Journal of Geology 17, 295–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reading, H. G. 1980. Characteristics and recognition of strike-slip fault systems. In Sedimentation in Oblique-slip Mobile Zones. Special Publication of the International Association of Sedimentologists, no. 4 (ed. Ballance, P. F. & Reading, H. G.), pp. 7–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reuther, C. D. 1982. Lower Carboniferous facies levelling and the first Upper Carboniferous tectonic events in the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees: a comparison. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Palaontologie Abhandlungen 163, 244–50.Google Scholar
Rider, M. H. 1974. The Namurian of West County Clare. Royal Irish Academy, Proceedings 74B, 125–42.Google Scholar
Roberts, D. G., Masson, D. G. & Miles, P. R. 1981. Age and structure of the southern Rockall Trough: new evidence. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 52, 115–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, M. J. 1972. North–South geofractures in Scotland and Ireland. Scottish Journal of Geology 8, 75–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, M. J. 1973. Base-metal mineralization in Ireland and Scotland and the formation of Rockall Trough. In Implications of Continental Drift to the Earth Sciences, vol. 1 (ed. Tarling, D. H. &Runcorn, S. K.), pp. 581–97. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Russell, M. J. 1976. A possible Lower Permian age for the onset of ocean floor spreading in the northern N. Atlantic. Scottish Journal of Geology 13, 315–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, M. J. 1978. Mineralization in a fractured craton. In Crustal evolution in N.W. Britain and Adjacent Regions. Geological Journal Special Issue, no. 10 (ed. Bowes, D. R. & Leake, B. E.), pp. 297–308.Google Scholar
Russell, M. J. & Smythe, D. K. 1978. Evidence for an early Permian oceanic rift in the northern N. Atlantic. In Petrology and Geochemistry of Continental Rifts (ed. Neumann, E. R. & Ramberg, I. B.), pp. 173–9. Holland: D. Riedel Publishing Co.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, M. J. & Smythe, D. K. 1983. Origin of the Oslo Graben in relation to the Hercynian-Alleghanian orogeny and lithospheric rifting in the North Atlantic. Tectonophysics 94, 457–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schermerhorn, L. J. G. 1975. Spilites, regional metamorphism and subduction in the Iberian pyrite belt: some comments. Geologie en Mijnbouw 54, 23–35.Google Scholar
Sclater, J. G. & Christie, P. A. F. 1980. Continental stretching, an explanation of the post Mid-Cretaceous subsidence in the central North Sea Basin. Journal of Geophysical Research 85, 3711–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scrutton, R. A. 1970. Results of a seismic refraction experiment on Rockall Bank. Nature 227, 826–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sevastopulo, G. D. 1981. The Lower Carboniferous. In A Geology of Ireland (ed. Holland, C. H.). Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sinha, A. K. & Zietz, I. 1982. Geophysical and geochemical evidence for a Hercynian magmatic arc, Maryland to Georgia. Geology 10, 593–6.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. B. & Francis, E. A. 1967. Geology of the country between Durham and W. Hartlepool. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, no. 27. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Smythe, D. K. 1984. Plate tectonic evolution of the Rockall and Faeroe-Shetland Troughs. In Geology of the North European Margin. London: Graham and Trotman. In press.Google Scholar
Smythe, D. K., Kenolty, N. & Russell, M. J. 1978. Seismic evidence for Mesozoic sedimentary troughs on the Hebridean continental margin. Nature 276, 420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smythe, D. K., Skuce, A. G. & Donato, J. A. Geological objections to an extensional origin for the Buchan and Witchground grabens in the North Sea. Nature 287, 467–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steel, R. J. & Worsley, D. 1984. Svalbard's post-Caledonian strata – an atlas of sedimentational patterns and palaeogeographic evolution. In Geology of the North European Margin. London: Graham and Trotman. In press.Google Scholar
Stevens, C. H. 1982. The Early Permian Thysanophyllum coral belt: another clue to Permian plate-tectonic reconstruction. Geological Society of America Bulletin 93, 798–803.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarling, D. H. 1980. Lithosphere evolution and changing tectonic regimes. Journal of the Geological Society of London 137, 459–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, S. & Andrew, C. J. 1978. Silvermines orebodies, Co. Tipperary, Ireland. Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy 87, B111–B124.Google Scholar
Thirwall, M. F. 1981. Implications for plate tectonic models of chemical data from volcanic rocks of the British Old Red Sandstone. Journal of the Geological Society of London 138, 123–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorsteinsson, R. 1974. Carboniferous and Permian stratigraphy of Axel Heiberg Island and Western Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic archipelago. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, no. 224, 115 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Voo, R. & Scotese, C. 1981. Palaeomagnetic evidence for a large 2000 km sinistral offset on the Great Glen Fault during Carboniferous time. Geology 9, 583–9.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, R. G. 1966. Shale Grit and Grindslow Shales: transition from turbidite to shallow water sediments in the Upper Carboniferous of northern England. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 36, 90–114.Google Scholar
Wood, R. J. & Barton, P. J. 1983. Crustal thinning and subsidence in the North Sea. Nature 302, 134–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziegler, P. A. 1981. Evolution of sedimentary basins in N.W. Europe. In Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of N. W. Europe (ed. Illing, L. V. & Hobson, G. D.), pp. 3–39. London: Heyden.Google Scholar