Abstract
The scattered land-areas which lie within and on the borders of the northern Atlantic fall into place as portions of a simpler structure that have been dispersed by continental drift in comparatively recent geological times. The continental fragments which form the bulk of these lands, when reassembled to make allowance for the effects of drift, form three great structural entities (Fig. 3.1):
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(a)
The Caledonian— Appalachian system of Palaeozoic mobile belts.
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(b)
The more ancient shield and platform areas which constituted the stable foreland on the western side of the Caledonian belts.
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(c)
A fragmentary cover of younger rocks superimposed on these structures and largely concentrated along the Atlantic margins of the continents; these margins are fringed in some places by Mesozoic or younger sedimentary successions and in others by late Mesozoic—Tertiary lava-plateaux and associated igneous intrusions — the components of the classic North Atlantic or Thulean igneous province.
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© 1975 The Estate of the late H. H. Read and Janet Watson
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Read, H.H., Watson, J. (1975). North Atlantic Shield-Areas. In: Introduction to Geology. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15609-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15609-2_3
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