Paleogeographic and Tectonic History of Europe

Carboniferous Mississippian paleogeographic map (left) and paleotectonic-plate map (right)

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Paleogeographic Maps

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The entire series of European paleogeographic and paleotectonic maps at full resolution are available on DVD:

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    • Introduction

    • The paleogeographic maps of Europe were completed in January 2011 after two years of data gathering and map making and are my most detailed of any series to date. The maps were compiled from many sources (see below) and do not follow any single model (I am unaware of any model that traces European history over 600 Ma). Rather, the maps represent compilations and compromises from the ltierature listed below. Particular attention was paid to making sure that tectonic and geologic events between adjacent time slices made geologic, geographic (space issues), and tectonic sense.

    Highlights of the geologic history presented in the paleogeographic maps include:

  • Ediacaran opening and rapid early Paleozoic spreading of Iapetus Oean and subsequent stages of closing marked by fringing island arcs along both Laurentia and Baltica
  • Classic Baltica-Laurentia-Avalonia collision to close the Iapetus and form the Caledonian-Acadian orogeny
  • A two-ocean (Rheic to north, Moldanubian-Paleotethys to south) model for the Variscan orogeny with a ribbon microcontinent between the two oceans -- Armorica (or Hun) superterrane -- that was caught between the convergence of Baltica and Africa
  • The importance of the African promontory and its position fastened to Africa during the Variscan orogeny
  • A Variscan/Pangaean Europe with a fixed African promontory that faced the Paleotethys and Neotethys oceans and securely filled the apex between Europe and Africa
  • The rifting of terranes from Gondwana and the African promontory to close the Paleotethys, open the Neotethys, and generate the Cimmerian (senso latto) orogeny
  • The African promontory rifted from stable Europe in the Jurassic as the Alpine (Penninic-Piemont) Ocean opened
  • Most of the African promontory remained attached to Africa until the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic -- its dismemberment during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic and subsequent collision with stable Europe was a major factor in the various phases of the Eoalpine-Alpine orogeny
  • As Africa was forced towards Europe during the opening of the Atlantic, the Alpine Ocean and the eastern Tethys Ocean and its various arms were closed and the Alpine orogeny was generated

    Paleogeography References Europe

    Jan. 2011
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  • Blakey, R. C., 2007, Carboniferous-Permian paleogeography of the Assembly of Pangaea: in, Wong, Th.E (Ed.): Proceedings of the XVth International Congress on Carboniferous and Permian Stratigraphy. Utrecht, 10-16 August 2003. Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (Amsterdam) p. 443-456.
  • Blakey, R. C., 2008, Gondwana paleogeography from assembly to breakup - a 500 million year odyssey, in Fielding, Christopher R., Frank, Tracy D., and Isbell, John L. (eds), Resolving the Late Paleozoic Ice Age in Time and Space: Geological Society of America, Special Paper 441, p. 1-28.
  • Blundell, D., Freeman, R, and Mueller, S. 1992, A continent revealed - the European geotraverse: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 275p.
  • Chaloupsk'y, J., 1988, Caledonian folding in the Bohemian Massif. In: Harris, A. L., and Fettes, D. J., (eds.): The Caledonian - Appalachian orogen: Geological Society Special Publication 38, Oxford, p. 493-498.
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  • Keppie, J. D., Nance, R. D., Murphy, J. B., and Dostal, J., 2003, Tethyan, Mediterranean, and Pacific analogues for the Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic birth and development ofperi-Gondwanan terranes and their transfer to Laurentiaand Laurussia: Tectonophysics, v. 365, p. 195-219.
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  • Scotese, C.R., 2002, Plate Tecotnic animation, Jurassic to Quaternary: http://www.scotese.com, (PALEOMAP website).
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