Age of the Grampian orogeny in Scotland and Ireland

1999/11/01 by N. J. SOPER, Nathaniel J. Soper, P. D. RYAN +3 · 3 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #earthquake and tectonic studies

paper · doi:10.1144/gsjgs.156.6.1231

openalex publication_date 1999/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The previous conflict between stratigraphical and geochronological evidence for the age of the Grampian orogeny in Scotland and Ireland has now been largely resolved. Dalradian deposition continued on the Laurentian margin through late Proterozoic into Ordovician time. The Grampian orogeny was a brief, arc-accretion event that took place around the Arenig-Llanvirn boundary, at about 470 Ma, an extension of the Taconic orogeny of the Appalachians. Exhumation of the orogen was rapid; Rb-Sr mica ages that have been taken to indicate pre-Ordovician orogeny and slow cooling are considered to be problematical.

Cited by

• Timing of regional deformation and development of the Moine Thrust Zone in the Scottish Caledonides: constraints from the U–Pb geochronology of alkaline intrusions
• U–Pb geochronology of the Fort Augustus granite gneiss: constraints on the timing of Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic tectonothermal events in the NW Highlands of Scotland
• Rapid cooling during late-stage orogenesis and implications for the collapse of the Scandian retrowedge, northern Scotland

Related

• Tectonic evolution of the Caledonian orogeny in Scotland: a review based on the timing of magmatism, metamorphism and deformation
• High-precision U–Pb monazite geochronology of the c. 806 Ma Grampian Shear Zone and the implications for the evolution of the Central Highlands of Scotland
• Geochronology and geodynamics of Scottish granitoids from the late Neoproterozoic break-up of Rodinia to Palaeozoic collision
• U–Pb geochronology of the Fort Augustus granite gneiss: constraints on the timing of Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic tectonothermal events in the NW Highlands of Scotland
• Field and isotopic evidence for a c. 750 Ma tectonothermal event in Moine rocks in the Central Highland region of the Scottish Caledonides