Tectonic framework of the Celtic Sea and adjacent areas with special reference to the location of the Variscan Front

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Abstract

Structural trends in the Celtic Sea area indicate that Variscan deformation patterns were inherited from Caledonian basement structures, and that the regional fold alignment is arcuate with a regional WSW-ENE direction rather than WNW-ESE (Armorican). There is no lateral structural continuity between Southern Ireland and South Wales-Southwest England. Three major structural provinces arranged en échelon across the Variscan foldbelt are recognised: (a) Southwest England, where there was complex deformation of a major basin; (b) the South Wales-Mendips foreland area, with strong basement/cover interaction and (c) the Southern Ireland graben and flanking platform province. Late Palaeozoic depositional patterns indicate that Southern Ireland and Southwest England were separated by a WSW-ENE trending platform bounded on the north by the inherited Wexford Boundary Lineament and to the south by a previously unidentified major Palaeozoic fault zone, here termed the Bristol Channel Lineament. The South Wales-Mendips Variscan successions accumulated on this intervening Wales-Celtic Sea platform, and were partly influenced by rejuvenated Caledonian fault lines. It is suggested that the northern margin of the Rheno-Hercynian foldbelt (the Variscan Front) be taken along the Bristol Channel Lineament, which can be traced for some 400 km southwestwards towards the Goban Spur on the continental margin. This permits a rationalisation of both tectonic and major facies boundaries in locating the front. It is also suggested that the structurally localised nature of the Southern Ireland basin be recognised by designating it as the Southern Ireland Zone of the Variscan foldbelt.

The sites of Mesozoic rifting in the Celtic Sea and adjacent areas, although complex in detail, appear to have been located along the Wexford Boundary and Bristol Channel Lineaments.

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