| Abstract: | A block and basin system of Devonian to Carboniferous age, with Caledonide/Appalachian trends, bounds the northern margin of the supposed Hercynian Ocean on a predrift reconstruction of continents in the North Atlantic area. Basin initiation and subsidence patterns are established from broad deductions concerning sedimentary facies trends, contemporary volcanism and faulting. The British and Irish basins may be due to tensional effects arising from differential syn- to post-orogenic uplift, mantle partial melting and southward directed, lower crustal creep towards the Hercynian continental margin. The Maritime Canadian basins may be due to tensional effects associated with major dextral strike-slip faults along an extension of a transform fault system related to closure of the supposed Hercynian Ocean. |
