|
Article |
Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
Basin subsidence analysis, employing the backstripping method, indicates that fundamentally different basin-generating mechanisms controlled Silurian basin development in northern England and in Wales. Accelerating subsidence with time suggests that the dominant control on basin formation in northern England was flexure of the Eastern Avalonian lithosphere. Mid-Wales, however, displays dominantly decelerating subsidence, suggesting an extensional control. The errors involved with the backstripping method, particularly concerning Lower Palaeozoic application, have been addressed.
In conjunction with sedimentological and tectonic data, the subsidence patterns for the Windermere Supergroup indicate deposition in a flexurally-loaded foreland basin which migrated southwards with time. Similar data for the Powys Supergroup of Mid-Wales imply an extensional control on Silurian deposition, possibly in a strike-slip setting. However, later Pøídolí and early Devonian Welsh sedimentation may represent the onset of foreland basin deposition. The new data are consistent with a diachronous closure of the Iapetus ocean, related to rotational collision of Eastern Avalonia with Laurentia during the early Silurian. Early Silurian oblique collision produced transtension in Wales. Subsequent rotation of Eastern Avalonia produced more orthogonal collision. Thus, continental flexure was felt initially in northern England in late Wenlock times, followed by migration of the resultant foreland basin to the southeast into Wales in early Devonian times.
The versatility of the backstripping method is shown by this application to Lower Palaeozoic sequences.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  R. J. MERRIMAN Clay mineral assemblages in British Lower Palaeozoic mudrocks Clay Minerals, 2006; 41: 473 - 512. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. W.F. Waldron Anatomy and evolution of a pull-apart basin, Stellarton, Nova Scotia Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2004; 116: 109 - 127. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 N. J. Soper, N. J. SOPER, and N. H. WOODCOCK The lost Lower Old Red Sandstone of England and Wales: a record of post-Iapetan flexure or Early Devonian transtension? Geological Magazine, 2003; 140: 627 - 647. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. Lazauskiene, S. Sliaupa, A. Brazauskas, and P. Musteikis Sequence stratigraphy of the Baltic Silurian succession: tectonic control on the foreland infill Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2003; 208: 95 - 115. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. J. MERRIMAN Contrasting clay mineral assemblages in British Lower Palaeozoic slate belts: the influence of geotectonic setting Clay Minerals, 2002; 37: 207 - 219. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Verniers, T. Pharaoh, L. Andre, T.N. Debacker, W. De Vos, M. Everaerts, A. Herbosch, J. Samuellson, M. Sintubin, and M. Vecoli The Cambrian to mid Devonian basin development and deformation history of Eastern Avalonia, east of the Midlands Microcraton: new data and a review Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2002; 201: 47 - 93. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 References Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2002; 25: 297 - 319. [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. F. Friend, B. P. J. Williams, M. Ford, and E. A. Williams Kinematics and dynamics of Old Red Sandstone basins Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2000; 180: 29 - 60. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
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]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. R. Van Staal, J. F. Dewey, C. M. Niocaill, and W. S. McKerrow The Cambrian-Silurian tectonic evolution of the northern Appalachians and British Caledonides: history of a complex, west and southwest Pacific-type segment of Iapetus Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 1998; 143: 197 - 242. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
