A brief history of the Rheic Ocean
The Rheic Ocean was one of the most important oceans of the Paleozoic Era. It lay between Laurentia and Gondwana from the Early Ordovician and closed to produce the vast Ouachita-Alleghanian-Variscan orogen during the assembly of Pangea. Rifting began in the Cambrian as a continuation of Neoproteroz...
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doaj-e32f0917f1ea4ba08f52a369b6a1faa72020-11-24T22:24:26ZengElsevierGeoscience Frontiers1674-98712012-03-013212513510.1016/j.gsf.2011.11.008A brief history of the Rheic OceanR. Damian Nance0Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso1J. Duncan Keppie2Ulf Linnemann3J. Brendan Murphy4Cecilio Quesada5Rob A. Strachan6Nigel H. Woodcock7Department of Geological Sciences, 316 Clippinger Laboratories, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USADepartamento de Geología, Universidad de Salamanca, 33708 Salamanca, SpainDepartamento de Geología Regional, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510 México D.F., MexicoSenckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie, Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, D-01109 Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia B2G 2W5, CanadaInstituto Geológico y Minero de España, Ríos Rosas 23, 28003 Madrid, SpainSchool of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, UKDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UKThe Rheic Ocean was one of the most important oceans of the Paleozoic Era. It lay between Laurentia and Gondwana from the Early Ordovician and closed to produce the vast Ouachita-Alleghanian-Variscan orogen during the assembly of Pangea. Rifting began in the Cambrian as a continuation of Neoproterozoic orogenic activity and the ocean opened in the Early Ordovician with the separation of several Neoproterozoic arc terranes from the continental margin of northern Gondwana along the line of a former suture. The rapid rate of ocean opening suggests it was driven by slab pull in the outboard Iapetus Ocean. The ocean reached its greatest width with the closure of Iapetus and the accretion of the peri-Gondwanan arc terranes to Laurentia in the Silurian. Ocean closure began in the Devonian and continued through the Mississippian as Gondwana sutured to Laurussia to form Pangea. The ocean consequently plays a dominant role in the Appalachian-Ouachita orogeny of North America, in the basement geology of southern Europe, and in the Paleozoic sedimentary, structural and tectonothermal record from Middle America to the Middle East. Its closure brought the Paleozoic Era to an end.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111001113Rheic OceanVariscan-Alleghanian-Ouachita orogenPangeaNorth AmericaEurope |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
R. Damian Nance Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso J. Duncan Keppie Ulf Linnemann J. Brendan Murphy Cecilio Quesada Rob A. Strachan Nigel H. Woodcock |
spellingShingle |
R. Damian Nance Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso J. Duncan Keppie Ulf Linnemann J. Brendan Murphy Cecilio Quesada Rob A. Strachan Nigel H. Woodcock A brief history of the Rheic Ocean Geoscience Frontiers Rheic Ocean Variscan-Alleghanian-Ouachita orogen Pangea North America Europe |
author_facet |
R. Damian Nance Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso J. Duncan Keppie Ulf Linnemann J. Brendan Murphy Cecilio Quesada Rob A. Strachan Nigel H. Woodcock |
author_sort |
R. Damian Nance |
title |
A brief history of the Rheic Ocean |
title_short |
A brief history of the Rheic Ocean |
title_full |
A brief history of the Rheic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
A brief history of the Rheic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
A brief history of the Rheic Ocean |
title_sort |
brief history of the rheic ocean |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Geoscience Frontiers |
issn |
1674-9871 |
publishDate |
2012-03-01 |
description |
The Rheic Ocean was one of the most important oceans of the Paleozoic Era. It lay between Laurentia and Gondwana from the Early Ordovician and closed to produce the vast Ouachita-Alleghanian-Variscan orogen during the assembly of Pangea. Rifting began in the Cambrian as a continuation of Neoproterozoic orogenic activity and the ocean opened in the Early Ordovician with the separation of several Neoproterozoic arc terranes from the continental margin of northern Gondwana along the line of a former suture. The rapid rate of ocean opening suggests it was driven by slab pull in the outboard Iapetus Ocean. The ocean reached its greatest width with the closure of Iapetus and the accretion of the peri-Gondwanan arc terranes to Laurentia in the Silurian. Ocean closure began in the Devonian and continued through the Mississippian as Gondwana sutured to Laurussia to form Pangea. The ocean consequently plays a dominant role in the Appalachian-Ouachita orogeny of North America, in the basement geology of southern Europe, and in the Paleozoic sedimentary, structural and tectonothermal record from Middle America to the Middle East. Its closure brought the Paleozoic Era to an end. |
topic |
Rheic Ocean Variscan-Alleghanian-Ouachita orogen Pangea North America Europe |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111001113 |
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