Synthesis of the Caledonian Rocks of Britain


Book Description

The Advanced Science Institute on which this publication is based took the somewhat unusual form of a geological field symposium held during late August 1984. It was designed to demonstrate to experienced earth scientists from the North Atlantic area the full range of geological phenomena encountered in the British Caledonian rocks. The ASl travelled from South Wales to the far northwest of Scotland by the route shown on the map and in doing so examined sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks from Pembrokeshire (Dyfed), Cardigan (Ceridigian), Snowdonia, Anglesey, the English Lake District and the Southern Uplands and Highlands of Scotland. Thus the fifty or so participants in the ASl studied the geological history and major structures of rocks exposed on either side of the supposed Lower Palaeozoic Iapetus Ocean the British sector of which closed to the south of the present Southern Uplands. Wales (1-5) afforded insight into the nature of the late Precambrian basement of England and Wales and the relationship of sedimentary and volcanic cover sequences to this basement. The Ordovician sequence in Wales is a sample of the volcanic rocks typical of a marginal basin, and were examined in Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia. The English Lake District (6) displays rocks from an island arc also of Ordovician age.







Caledonian Structures in Britain


Book Description

This volume deals with those sites selected as part of the Geological Conservation Review (GCR) within the southern British part of the Caledonides, that is, the paratectonic Caledonides - a Caledonian terrane without strong and pervasive deformation and metamorphism, such as occurred further north. This orogenic belt formed by long and complex processes of earth movements between 500 and 380 million years before the present (?late Cambrian to mid-Devonian times), and has been classic ground for geologists for two hundred years. It is perhaps no accident that James Hutton in 1795 chose to illustrate his geostrophic cycle (and unconformity) with three visually explicit examples of the deformation wrought on Lower Palaeozoic rocks by Caledonian events. The former Caledonian mountain chain, which can be seen today in fragmented pieces in Scandinavia, Britain and Ireland, and North America, was ultimately the result of the collision of two continental plates and the closure of a former ocean, Iapetus. Some of these fragments, including those in Scandinavia, southern Britain, and the Republic of Ireland and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, are thought to have lain on the south side of the ocean before collision: the rest of North America, northern Ireland, and Scotland are thought to have lain north of the former Iapetus.




Geology of the Country Around Ulverston


Book Description

A detailed account of the geology shown on the complementary 1: 50 000 (or earlier 1: 63 360) geological map(s)













The Geology of Ireland


Book Description

This text is written for both academics and people who have no prior knowledge of the earth sciences. It offers a geological history of Ireland from the Precambrian era to the present day.




A Global Synthesis of the Ordovician System: Part 1


Book Description

The Ordovician was one of the longest of the geological periods, characterized by major magmatic and tectonic activity, an immense biodiversification, swings in climate and sea levels and the first Phanerozoic mass extinction. ‘A Global Synthesis of the Ordovician System’ is presented in two volumes in The Geological Society, Special Publications. This first volume (SP532) charts the history of the Ordovician System and explores significant advances in our understanding of its biostratigraphy, including more precise calibration of its timescale with tephra chronology and regional alignments using astrochronology and cyclostratigraphy. Changes in the world’s oceans, their shifting currents and sea levels, the biogeography of their biotas and the ambient climate are described and discussed against a background of changing palaeogeography. This first volume also includes syntheses of the Ordovician geology for most European countries, including historical key areas, such as Great Britain, Baltoscandia and Bohemia. The second volume (SP533) provides synthetic aspects of the Ordovician geology of most other parts of the world.




Cumulative Book Index


Book Description

A world list of books in the English language.