Geology of Europe
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The geology of Europe is varied and complex, and gives rise to the wide variety of landscapes found across the continent, from the Scottish Highlands to the rolling plains of Hungary.
Europe's most significant feature is the dichotomy between highland and mountainous Southern Europe and a vast, partially underwater, northern plain ranging from England in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east. These two halves are separated by the mountain chains of Pyrenees and Alps/Carpathians. The northern plains are delimited in the west by the Scandinavian Mountains and the mountainous parts of the British Isles. The southern mountainous region is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea. Major shallow water bodies submerging parts of the northern plains are the Celtic Sea the North Sea, the Baltic Sea complex and Barents Sea.
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[edit] Components
Europe consist of the following components:
- the Baltica craton - Scandinavia, Balticum, Russia, and Northern Poland/Germany,
- Avalonian fragments - England, Ireland, Netherlands, Northern Germany, etc.,
- Laurentian (North American) fragments - Western Norway and Scotland,
- Gondwana Fragments - Spain, Italy??, Malta, possibly belonging to the Cimmerian Arc,
- Neo-Tethys Ocean floor - the Pyrenees/Alps/Apennine/Balkan Alps/Carpathian complex,
- The Anatolian part of the Cimmerian Arc originating from Gondwana
[edit] Geologic Timeline
| ~2300-2200?? Ma | Baltica | The Baltic Shield (Fennoscandia) was formed from five province blocks: Svecofennian, Sveconorwegian, Karelian, Belmorian and Kola, |
|---|---|---|
| 2300-2100 Ma | Baltica | The Sarmatian craton was formed from other blocks, |
| ???? Ma | Baltica | The Volgo-Uralia shield was formed, |
| 1900-1800 Ma | Baltica | The East European craton (≈ Baltica) was formed from the above three cratons, to become a part of the supercontinent Columbia, |
| ~1500 Ma | Baltica | The Nena Continent composed of Arctica, East Antarctica and Baltica, was splitoff from Columbia, |
| ???? Ma | Baltica | East Antarctica was shaved off from Nena, |
| ~1100 Ma | Baltica | Baltica and Arctica, now part of a Laurentia block, was joined to Rodinia, |
| ~750 Ma | Baltica | The Baltica/Laurentia block, AKA Proto-Laurasia, was shaved off the splitup Rodinia, |
| ~550 Ma | Baltica | Proto-Laurasia broke apart, forming Baltica and Laurentia, |
| ~530 Ma | Avalonia | Avalonia broke off from Gondwana by rifting |
| ~450 Ma | Avalonia | Avalonia came in contact with Baltica |
| ~440 Ma | Balt./Aval. | Laurentia and Baltica collided to form Euramerica, Avalonia attached to the eastern coast of Laurentia, |
| ~350 Ma | Balt./Aval. | Euramerica collided with Gondwana forming Pangea, while Avalonia was squished to a narrow strip in between Gondwana and Laurasia, |
| ~300 Ma | Balt./Kaza. | Siberia and Kazakhstania were the last continents to adjoin Pangea towards the Baltica block, thereby forming a Laurasia subcontinent of Pangea, |
| ~270 Ma | Cimmeria | The Cimmerian Plate split off from Gondwana by rifting, |
| ~190 Ma | Baltica | Laurasia split off from Gondwana by the widening of the Atlantic Ocean, and very soon afterwards split into Laurentia (North America) and a Eurasian continent. |
| 50 Ma -- present | As the continents approached their present configuration, Europe experienced periods of land connection to North America via Greenland, resulting in colonization by North American animals. During these times, higher than present sea levels sometimes fragmented Europe into island subcontinents. As time passed, sea levels fell, with seas retreating from the plains of western Russia, establishing the modern connection to Asia. Asian animal species then colonized Europe in large numbers. |
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[edit] Geological features
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