Mountain building event caused by the collision of Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia
"Caledonian Mountains" redirects here. Not to be confused with Caledonia Mountain or Mountains of Scotland.
Location of the different branches of the Caledonian/Acadian belts at the end of the Caledonian orogeny (Early Devonian). Present-day coastlines are indicated in gray for reference. Later in geological history, the Atlantic Ocean opened and the different parts of the orogenic belt moved apart.[1] See also Iapetus Suture and Trans-European Suture Zone.
The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building cycle recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Caledonides, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that occurred from the Ordovician to Early Devonian, roughly 490–390 million years ago (Ma). It was caused by the closure of the Iapetus Ocean when the Laurentia and Baltica continents and the Avalonia microcontinent collided.
The orogeny is named for Caledonia, the Latin name for Scotland. The term was first used in 1885 by Austrian geologist Eduard Suess for an episode of mountain building in northern Europe that predated the Devonian period. Geologists like Émile Haug and Hans Stille saw the Caledonian event as one of several episodic phases of mountain building that had occurred during Earth's history.[2] Current understanding has it that the Caledonian orogeny encompasses a number of tectonic phases that can laterally be diachronous. The name "Caledonian" can therefore not be used for an absolute period of geological time, it applies only to a series of tectonically related events.
^Reconstruction based on Matte 2001; Stampfii, von Raumer & Borel 2002; Torsvik et al. (1996) and Ziegler (1990)
^McKerrow et al. (2002)
and 30 Related for: Caledonian orogeny information
The Caledonianorogeny was a mountain-building cycle recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Caledonides, Svalbard, eastern...
Fault has a long movement history. It formed towards the end of the Caledonianorogeny associated with the collision between the Laurentia and Baltic tectonic...
orogeny is considered one of the three major phases of orogeny in Europe that define the geology of that continent, along with the Caledonianorogeny...
the Caledonianorogeny in the Silurian continued to form the Variscan orogeny in the succeeding Devonian and Carboniferous Periods. Both orogenies resulted...
ground of the above Caledonian Ground, sports venue in Dunedin, New Zealand Caledonians, an ancient tribal confederation Caledonianorogeny, a geological event...
of the Scandinavian Mountains are Caledonian, which means they were put in place by the Caledonianorogeny. Caledonian rocks overlie rocks of the much older...
Era, (620–550 Ma) Cadomian orogeny – On the north coast of Armorica in the Ediacaran/Cambrian, (660–540 Ma) Caledonianorogeny – Mountain building event...
mountains were formed around 400 million years ago (Ma) during the Caledonianorogeny. Rocks of Archean age in Norway are confined to a few 10 km-scale...
the Earth's interior. The Caledonian (Iapetus) plate cycle saw the formation of the Iapetus suture during the Caledonianorogeny. The Iapetus suture was...
Avalonia, Baltica, and a series of smaller terranes, collided in the Caledonianorogeny c. 400 Ma to form Laurussia/Euramerica. Laurussia/Euramerica then...
of the Iapetus Ocean, from the North America/Europe collision (See Caledonianorogeny). By the end of the Mesozoic Era, the Appalachian Mountains had been...
gravitational potential energy. Orogenic collapse can begin at any point during an orogeny due to overthickening of the crust. Post-orogenic collapse and post-orogenic...
Laurentia. The orogeny overlapped with the Caledonianorogeny and the orogenies that formed the Appalachian Mountains. It was the only orogeny in Laurentia...
Orogeny (/ɒˈrɒdʒəni/) is a mountain-building process that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An orogenic...
collided with Laurentia, forming Euramerica, an event called the Caledonianorogeny. As Avalonia inched towards Laurentia, the seaway between them, a...
and Laurentia, which is referred to as the Scandian phase of the Caledonianorogeny. The size of the Scandinavian Caledonides at the time of their formation...
Pembrokeshire to Shropshire are thought to have originated during the CaledonianOrogeny or mountain-building period. It is most impressively revealed at Carreg...
lines of crustal weakness commonly associated with, for example, the CaledonianOrogeny will often predate this particular mountain-building period, much...
faulted and folded, having been affected by the earth movements of the CaledonianOrogeny. A notable feature of the Ordovician system is a major downwarp known...
This collision is represented by the Caledonian folding or in North America as an early phase in the Acadian orogeny. In the Carboniferous, the new continent...
First the creation of the Sub-Cambrian peneplain, followed by the CaledonianOrogeny in the late Silurian and early Devonian. Rift phases occurred in the...
Formation was metamorphosed and deformed during the Lower Palaeozoic Caledonianorogeny. After erosion and exhumation it became basement to an unconformable...
Baltica and Avalonia. The ocean disappeared with the Acadian, Caledonian and Taconic orogenies, when these three continents joined to form one big landmass...
mountain-building period known as the Variscan orogeny. This line of weakness probably featured in the earlier CaledonianOrogeny and perhaps reflects a more ancient...
Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later CaledonianOrogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to...
Laurentia collided, resulting in extensive volcanic activity (the Caledonianorogeny) which created a granite outcrop surrounded by lava flows. The area...
Małopolska). They were formed during the Caledonianorogeny of the Silurian period and then rejuvenated in the Hercynian orogeny of the Upper Carboniferous period...
ancient continents of Laurentia and Avalonia collided during the Caledonianorogeny. They later became exposed at the surface where sea and weather eroded...
Continent" of Euramerica persists after forming in the Caledonianorogeny. Beginning of Acadian Orogeny for Anti-Atlas Mountains of North Africa, and Appalachian...
The eastern and northern margins were heavily deformed during the Caledonianorogeny. The Isua Greenstone Belt of western Greenland preserves oceanic crust...
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