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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2000; v. 180; p. 29-60;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2000.180.01.04
© 2000 Geological Society of London

Review

Kinematics and dynamics of Old Red Sandstone basins

P. F. Friend1, B. P. J. Williams2, M. Ford3 & E. A. Williams4

1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
2 Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, University of Aberdeen, Meston Building, King’s College, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK
3 École Nationale Supérieure de Géologie, CRPG-CNRS, Rue du Doyen Marcel Roubault, B.P. 40, 54501 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy cedex, France
4 CRPG-CNRS, B.P. 20, 54501 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy cedex, France

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.