Lyell Collection
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sanderson, D. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1984; v. 14; p. 149-165;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1984.014.01.15
© 1984 Geological Society of London

Ireland

Structural variation across the northern margin of the Variscides in NW Europe

David J. Sanderson

Department of Geology, Queen’s University, Belfast BT7 1NN, Ireland

Four areas which cross the northern margin of the Variscan fold belt are examined and models of their structural evolution, from basin development to folding etc., are compared.

Foreland Britain is characterized by heterogeneous deformation localized in basins, whose development accompanied E-W dextral shear. The Munster basin in Ireland contains steep folds and cleavage. A variety of minor structures indicates an important dextral shear component to the deformation, and basin inversion by transpression is proposed. SW England is dominated by thrust tectonics, including the obduction of the Lizard ophiolite. Deformation was preceded by south to north migration of basin development. Brittany is characterized by major dextral shear zones delimiting areas of variable ductile strain.

The structural geometry and history of these areas is interpreted in terms of regional dextral transpression. The common transport direction is to the NNW or NW and oblique to the belt. Variable amounts of thrusting and dextral shear produced the different structural patterns. A case is made for an essentially ‘thick-skinned’ style of heterogeneous deformation produced in a dextral, oblique collision orogen, which involved microplates and a small back-arc basin.





This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
D. Praeg
Diachronous Variscan late-orogenic collapse as a response to multiple detachments: a view from the internides in France to the foreland in the Irish Sea
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2004; 223: 89 - 138.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
S. P. Todd
Taking the roof off a suture zone: basin setting and provenance of conglomerates in the ORS Dingle Basin of SW Ireland
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2000; 180: 185 - 222.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
E. A. Williams
Flexural cantilever models of extensional subsidence in the Munster Basin (SW Ireland) and Old Red Sandstone fluvial dispersal systems
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2000; 180: 239 - 268.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
E. A. Williams, S. A. Sergeev, I. Stossel, M. Ford, and K. T. Higgs
U-Pb zircon geochronology of silicic tuffs and chronostratigraphy of the earliest Old Red Sandstone in the Munster Basin, SW Ireland
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2000; 180: 269 - 302.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
P. A. MEERE and D. A. BANKS
Upper crustal fluid migration: an example from the Variscides of SW Ireland
Journal of the Geological Society, 1997; 154: 975 - 985.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
P. W. READMAN, B. M. O'REILLY, and T. MURPHY
Gravity gradients and upper-crustal tectonic fabrics, Ireland
Journal of the Geological Society, 1997; 154: 817 - 828.
[Abstract] [PDF]