Kinematics and dynamics of Old Red Sandstone basins

The Old Red Sandstone basins of the North Atlantic borderlands provide a record of diverse dynamics in very different settings, related to the Variscan, Caledonian and Ellesmerian orogenies. This paper is a first attempt to review much new information on the basins, including information presented, for the first time, in this book. Five basin groupings are distinguished: (1) Scandinavian basins of, syn- to post-Scandian (Caledonian) age, formed on greatly thickened crust by extension or transtension (Western Norway, East Greenland, Spitsbergen); (2) NE Scotland, Orcadian Basin, mid Caledonian setting, formed by extension; (3) Scotland (Midland Valley) and related Irish basins, north of the Caledonian Iapetus Suture Zone, formed by extension; (4) southern Britain and Ireland, basins south of the Iapetus Suture Zone, related to collision of Eastern Avalonia with Laurentia, and Maritime Canada and the Catskills related to collision of Western Avalonia; these are load-induced flexural basins; (5) Southern margin of Eastern Avalonia, (Munster, South Wales, SW England), of Late Devonian age, extensional basins of various (Early to Late) Devonian ages.