shear wave splitting and subcontinental mantle deformation splitting observations are interpreted in terms of the strain induced lattice preferred orientation of mantle minerals especially olivine we consider three hypotheses concerning the origin of the continental anlsotropy 1 strain associated with absolute plate motion as in the oceanic upper mantle 2 crustal stress and 3 the past and present internal deformation of the subcontinental upper mantle by tectonic episodes it is found that the last hypothesis is the most successful namely that the most recent significant episode of internal deformation appears to be the best predictor of q for stable continental regions this is interpreted as fossil anisotropy whereas for presently active regions such as alaska the anisotropy reflects present day tectonic activity in the stable portion of north america there is a good correlation between delay time and lithospheric thickness this is consistent with the anisotropy being localized in the subcontinental lithosphere and suggests that intrinsic anisotropy is approximately constant the acceptance of this hypothesis has several implications for subcontinental mantle deformation first it argues for coherent deformation of the continental lithosphere crust and mantle during orogenies this implies that the anisotropic portion of the lithosphere was present since the deformational episode and rules out the addition of undeformed material to this layer by subsequent underplating or conductive growth of the thermal boundary layer one of the most important issues in the study of orogenies is the need to reconcile the formation of thickened lithosphere with the paradoxically high mantle temperatures often associated with orogenic episodes most efforts to date have focussed on modes of deformation whereby the cold lithospheric mantle is removed by convective instability or delamination and replaced by warm asthenosphere these models however are incompatible with the evidence for preserved coherent lithospheric deformation rather the deformed mantle appears to have been heated in place we suggest that the elevated mantle temperatures may be due to the strain heating accompanying the deformation

mantle flow in regions of complex tectonics insights from indonesia 1 indonesia is arguably one of the tectonically most complex regions on earth today due to its location at the junction of several major tectonic plates and its long history of collision and accretion it is thus an ideal location to study the interaction between subducting plates and mantle convection seismic anisotropy can serve as a diagnostic tool for identifying various subsurface deformational processes such as mantle flow for example here we present novel shear wave splitting results across the indonesian region using three different shear phases local s sks and downgoing s to improve spatial resolution of anisotropic fabrics allows us to distinguish several deformational features for example the block rotation history of borneo is reflected in coast parallel fast directions which we attribute to fossil anisotropy furthermore we are able to unravel the mantle flow pattern in the sulawesi and banda region we detect toroidal flow around the celebes sea slab oblique corner flow in the banda wedge and sub slab mantle flow around the arcuate banda slab we present evidence for deep sub 520 km anisotropy at the java subduction zone in the sumatran backarc we measure trench perpendicular fast orientations which we assume to be due to mantle flow beneath the overriding eurasian plate these observations will allow to test ideas of for example slab mantle coupling in subduction regions

anisotropy beneath the pyrenees range from teleseismic shear wave splitting results from a test experiment we have investigated the seismic anisotropy from sks and skks wave splitting along a n s profile perpendicular to the pyrenean mountain belt the line crossed the north pyrenean fault npf which probably represents the plate boundary between the european and the iberian plates we observed large delay times t 1 3 to 1 5 s and uniform fast polarization directions n100e at three stations located on the iberian plate on the other hand t are smaller 0 5 1 0 s and the scattered at stations located north of the npf the small scale variability the relation with surface geology and the correlation of the t with lithospheric thickness suggest that the anisotropy could be predominantly of lithospheric origin however an asthenospheric contribution cannot be ruled out in the north pyrenean zone an important thermal event before the pyrenean compression has likely erased the former mantle fabric the observed anisotropy is then likely related to the pyrenean orogeny on the iberian plate our splitting parameters are similar to those obtained at two stations located on hercynian structures in central spain this suggests that two contributions are likely superposed to that of the pyrenean built up one related to the hercynian orogeny and the other one related to the rotation of the iberian plate

a model for the deep structure of the moine thrust zone seismic refraction and electrical conductivity profiles across northern scotland together with geological and other geophysical data are interpreted in terms of the deep structure of this part of the orthotectonic caledonides our preferred interpretation is that the moine thrust zone extends to the base of the crust and the caledonian front is steep this contrasts with recently proposed ultra thin skinned solutions the results of the recently completed moist deep seismic reflection experiment should inter alia test our hypothesis in order to test the geometrical feasibility of our interpretation balanced sections have been constructed to illustrate the crustal evolution of the region during the caledonian orogeny these sections permit estimates to be made of crustal shortening thickening and erosion our model requires that the n highlands were once overlain by major exotic nappes which by analogy with nw newfoundland may have been ophiolitic the proposed regional structural pattern comprises a duplex of crustal dimensions we suggest that crustal duplex development is an important mechanism in the orogenic deformation of previously thinned and extended passive continental margins

trench parallel flow beneath the nazca plate from seismic anisotropy shear wave splitting of s and sks phases reveals the anisotropy and strain field of the mantle beneath the subducting nazca plate cocos plate and the caribbean region these observations can be used to test models of mantle flow two dimensional entrained mantle flow beneath the subducting nazca slab is not consistent with the data rather there is evidence for horizontal trench parallel flow in the mantle beneath the nazca plate along much of the andean subduction zone trench parallel flow is attributale utable to retrograde motion of the slab the decoupling of the slab and underlying mantle and a partial barrier to flow at depth resulting in lateral mantle flow beneath the slab such flow facilitates the transfer of material from the shrinking mantle reservoir beneath the pacific basin to the growing mantle reservoir beneath the atlantic basin trenchparallel flow may explain the eastward motions of the caribbean and scotia sea plates the anomalously shallow bathymetry of the eastern nazca plate the long wavelength geoid high over western south america and it may contribute to the high elevation and intense deformation of the central andes

faults shear zones in the earth s mantle abstract geodetic data support a short term continental deformation localized in faults bounding lithospheric blocks whether major faults observed at the surface affect the lithospheric mantle and if so how strain is distributed are major issues for understanding the mechanical behavior of lithospheric plates a variety of evidence from direct observations of deformed peridotites in orogenic massifs ophiolites and mantle xenoliths to seismic reflectors and seismic anisotropy beneath major fault zones consistently supports prolongation of major faults into the lithospheric mantle this review highlights that many aspects of the lithospheric mantle deformation remain however poorly understood coupling between deformation in frictional faults in the uppermost crust and localized shearing in the ductile crust and mantle is required to explain the post seismic deformation but mantle viscosities deduced from geodetic data and extrapolated from laboratory experiments are only reconciled if temperatures in the shallow lithospheric mantle are high 800 c at the moho seismic anisotropy especially shear wave splitting provides strong evidence for coherent deformation over domains several tens of km wide in the lithospheric mantle beneath major transcurrent faults yet it cannot detect narrow strain localization zones or shallowly dipping faults seismic profiling images shallow dipping seismic reflectors in the lithospheric mantle interpreted as the continuation of normal or less frequently inverse faults in the mantle however the nature of these reflectors is poorly understood there is a large discrepancy between the scale at which deformation processes are studied a few kilometers at most due to the limited size of continuous mantle exposures at the earth s surface and the scale inferred for strain localization in the mantle from geophysical observations tens of kilometers combining data on deformation microstructures and crystal preferred orientations in naturally deformed peridotites and seismologic observations allows nevertheless discussing strain localization processes that may play a role on the development of mantle shear zones

nature of the moho beneath the scottish highlands from a receiver function perspective abstract the geology of scotland documents a protracted geological history from precambrian basement formation through the caledonian orogeny and to the tertiary opening of the atlantic a temporary deployment of 22 closely spaced broadband seismic stations in scotland traverses many of the major terrane boundaries in the region and provides a unique opportunity to place spatial and temporal constraints on variations in crustal structure with teleseismic p wave receiver functions we use the h method to determine variations in bulk crustal parameters crustal thickness h and v p v s ratio mean crustal thickness is 28 km varying from 23 km in the ne highlands and increasing to 30 km near the highland boundary faultin the southern part of the study area mean v p v s values of 1 76 show no significant variation across the study area an abrupt increase in crustal thickness of 4 5 km nw across the moine thrust is not easily linked to tertiary recent tectonic activity instead it appears that scotland s crust has retained features for hundreds of millions of years since it was first formed despite abundant volcanic activity in tertiary times our work favours the view that the moho is a compositional boundary rather than a mineralogical one defined by a reaction in p t space

anisotropy in kuril kamchatka subduction zone structure to constrain the orientation and extent of seismic velocity anisotropy in the kuril kamchatka subduction zone we have developed a technique that isolates anisotropy at shallow depths by differencing splitting observed in teleseismic shear wave phases olivine a axis orientations inferred from 29 ss s phase pairs and two local s phases vary between the major tectonic components of the trench back arc system although the ss paths do not uniquely constrain a single model of anisotropy a axes are consistent with finite strain patterns predicted by plate convergence and back arc spreading and shearing

accretionary history and crustal evolution of the variscan belt in western europe abstract the variscan belt of western europe is part of a large intra paleozoic belt extending on both sides of the atlantic from the ouachitas in the us and the mauritanides in west africa to the bohemian massif in czechoslovakia and poland the belt was constructed between 500 and 250 ma as a result of convergence and collision between two main continents laurentia baltica and africa after the closure of various oceanic basins iapetus rheic and galicia massif central now recorded as discrete in part cryptic sutures which form the roots of large crystalline nappes in which are found dismembered remnants of oceanic crust and mantle the accretionary history of the variscan belt in western europe is related to the progressive closure of probably two oceanic basins the rheic in the north and another the galicia massif central in the south by respectively southward and northward intraoceanic subduction followed by obduction and intracontinental lithospheric subduction the result is a broad 700 800 km fan like divergent belt which must be considered as a classical obduction collision orogen with a long intracontinental history of about 100 150 ma its arcuate shape is probably due to the northwestward impingement of a promontory of the african continent into laurentia baltica

lithospheric deformation inferred from teleseismic shear wave splitting observations in the united kingdom observations of splitting in teleseismic shear waves recorded at stations in the united kingdom uk seismic network operated by the british geological survey are related to the tectonic structures and history in the uk the combination of network density and tectonic variability in the uk permits an assessment to be made of the relationship between splitting and geology fast polarization directions are most commonly parallel to geologic features resulting from compressional or strike slip events and splitting delay times mirror the increasing involvement of basement in deformation as observed through field investigation different orogenic episodes may be distinguished in the splitting orientations a peak in delay times is suggested in the observations at the iapetus suture a site of paleozoic subduction now in the uk interior these observations are consistent with the idea that continental anisotropy arises through coherent deformation of the lithosphere and is preserved long after orogenic deformation ceases

interpretation of sks waves using samples from the subcontinental lithosphere abstract the seismic properties of five south african kimberlite nodules have been calculated from petrofabric measurements these garnet lherzolite and harzburgite composition nodules 56 80 olivine are known from previous studies to have originated at depths of 120 170 km in the subcontinental lithosphere their in situ seismic properties have been calculated by extrapolating the elastic constants to the appropriate temperature 900 1050 c and pressure 3 0 3 5 gpa conditions the average of the five samples has a maximum s wave anisotropy v s of 3 7 which is sufficiently high to explain previously reported teleseismic sks delay times t in continental shield areas of up to 1 7 s the biggest delay time is observed when the foliation is vertical the lineation horizontal and the fastest s wave polarized parallel to the lineation i e an orientation for transcurrent motion delay times of over 1 s can only be generated by this orientation a strong mantle crust mechanical coupling is suggested for such situations the potential use of seismic anisotropy as an indicator of strain in the lithosphere has been investigated using experimental and simulated fabric data for olivine the most abundant phase 70 in the upper mantle the v p and v s seismic anisotropy increases with fabric strength and finite strain recrystallization tends to reduce fabric strength and seismic anisotropy resulting in saturation values for experimental and simulated fabrics which correspond to approximately 50 60 strain or 8 9 v s for pure olivine aggregates a survey of 25 naturally deformed peridotites of oceanic origin suggests an average maximum s wave anisotropy for the olivine component of 9 or about 8 for a lherzolite or harzburgite rock composition when the orthopyroxene component is taken into account the ophiolite samples are twice as anisotropic as the kimberlite nodules if an average anisotropy value is representative of the lithosphere then the sks delay times represent variations in anisotropic layer thickness for delay times over 1 s as the orientation is constrained to be foliation vertical and lineation horizontal the magnitude of s wave anisotropy is less sensitive than v p to variations in olivine volume fraction in range 50 100 and to deformation or fabric intensity further suggesting that s wave anisotropy is particularly apt for the determination of the anisotropic lithosphere thickness for smaller delay times there is some trade off between structural orientation and thickness

european mantle lithosphere assembled from rigid microplates with inherited seismic anisotropy abstract we have modelled three dimensional seismic anisotropy of the mantle lithosphere from anisotropic parameters of teleseismic body waves we invert jointly shear wave splitting parameters and p residual spheres based on data from dense networks of temporary and permanent stations in four european regions ranging from the variscan belt to the baltic shield changes in orientation of the large scale anisotropy caused by systematic preferred orientation of olivine identify boundaries of domains of mantle lithosphere individual domains are characterized by a consistent large scale orientation of anisotropy approximated by hexagonal or orthorhombic symmetry with generally inclined symmetry axes the domains are separated by mapped tectonic boundaries sutures which cut the entire lithosphere besides the change of anisotropy orientation at domain boundaries we often observe a change of the lithosphere and or crust thicknesses we do not detect any fabric of the mantle lithosphere which could have been produced by a collision of microcontinents in a volume detectable by large scale seismic anisotropy the observations of consistent anisotropy within individual blocks of the mantle lithosphere reflect frozen in olivine preferred orientation most probably formed prior to the assembly of microcontinents that created the modern european landmass therefore our findings support a plate tectonic view of the continental lithosphere as a mosaic of rigid blocks of the mantle lithosphere with complicated but relatively sharp contact zones these contacts are blurred by the easily deformed overlying crust terranes

physical analysis of an antarctic ice core towards an integration of micro and macrodynamics of polar ice microstructures from deep ice cores reflect the dynamic conditions of the drill location as well as the thermodynamic history of the drill site and catchment area in great detail ice core parameters crystal lattice preferred orientation lpo grain size grain shape mesostructures visual stratigraphy as well as borehole deformation were measured in a deep ice core drilled at kohnen station dronning maud land dml antarctica these observations are used to characterize the local dynamic setting and its rheological as well as microstructural effects at the edml ice core drilling site european project for ice coring in antarctica in dml the results suggest a division of the core into five distinct sections interpreted as the effects of changing deformation boundary conditions from triaxial deformation with horizontal extension to bedrock parallel shear region 1 uppermost approx 450 m depth with still small macroscopic strain is dominated by compression of bubbles and strong strain and recrystallization localization region 2 approx 450 textendash 1700 m depth shows a girdle type lpo with the girdle plane being perpendicular to grain elongations which indicates triaxial deformation with dominating horizontal extension in this region approx 1000 m depth the first subtle traces of shear deformation are observed in the shape preferred orientation spo by inclination of the grain elongation region 3 approx 1700 textendash 2030 m depth represents a transitional regime between triaxial deformation and dominance of shear which becomes apparent in the progression of the girdle to a single maximum lpo and increasing obliqueness of grain elongations the fully developed single maximum lpo in region 4 approx 2030 textendash 2385 m depth is an indicator of shear dominance region 5 below approx 2385 m depth is marked by signs of strong shear such as strong spo values of grain elongation and strong kink folding of visual layers the details of structural observations are compared with results from a numerical ice sheet model pism isotropic for comparison of strain rate trends predicted from the large scale geometry of the ice sheet and borehole logging data this comparison confirms the segmentation into these depth regions and in turn provides a wider view of the ice sheet this article is part of the themed issue textquoteleft microdynamics of ice textquoteright

shear wave splitting around the northern atlantic frozen pangaean lithospheric anisotropy abstract although the number of teleseismic shear wave splitting measurements has considerably increased world wide during the last decade there is no consensus on a unique and universal interpretation of these data splitting might primarily originate in the lithospheric and or asthenospheric mantle but the technique has no vertical resolution and therefore leaves this question of anisotropy location unresolved generally the consequences of the two possibilities are used to infer which is more likely if splitting occurs in the lithosphere the splitting parameters the orientation of the fast split shear wave o and the delay time t should be related to frozen or active deformation on the other hand if the splitting occurs in the asthenosphere the observed splitting parameters should be related to the present day flow induced by the differential motion between the tectonic plates and the underlying mantle the aim of this paper is to test these hypotheses against shear wave splitting observations from western europe and the eastern u s indeed except in a few places splitting on either side of the atlantic on hercynian caledonian or grenvillian structures do not appear to have been deeply and pervasively affected by the opening of this ocean this provides us the opportunity to place these results in the pangaean reference frame of the hercynian caledonian belt before the opening of the atlantic in many places the close parallelism between lithospheric structure and the absolute plate motion apm impedes a reliable identification of the origin of the anisotropy especially an asthenospheric flow channelled around the deeply rooted north american craton may be compatible with the large scale anisotropy pattern in the eastern u s despite this ambiguity fast polarization directions o observed on or near some major lithospheric structures correlate better with the trend of the local tectonic structures than with the expected asthenospheric flow therefore we suggest that these lithospheric structures developed before the opening of the atlantic remain frozen since hercynian caledonian or grenvillian times and are responsible for the observed splitting at these places

comparison of shear wave splitting and finite strain from the india asia collision zone we investigate whether observations of shear wave splitting in asia may be related to distributed strain of the lithosphere or to strain caused by motion of the asian lithosphere over the deep mantle the hs2 nuvel angular velocity for eurasia and that of minster and jordan 1978 predict absolute plate motions that are a factor of at least 4 slower than the nne relative motion of india with respect to stable eurasia shear of the upper mantle beneath the south asian lithosphere is therefore likely to be dominated by the velocity field caused by the internal deformation of asia rather than by plate motion if that shear causes sks splitting fast polarization directions in tectonic asia should be aligned approximately in the direction of the motion of asian lithosphere relative to the deep mantle which for southern asia is nne in general however fast polarization directions are not aligned with this direction and in some cases are nearly orthogonal to it we calculate finite deformation of the asian lithosphere in response to its indentation by india and from the deformation predict the orientations of fast polarization directions aligned with the principal axes of elongation these predictions agree with the gross features of the anisotropy in tibet and the tien shan orientations of anisotropy in the baikal region of siberia are consistent with the orientations of the local principal axes of active strain orientations of anisotropy in mongolia however are inconsistent both with the azimuth of the velocity of this region with respect to the deeper mantle and with the orientation of the calculated maximum elongation of the region we conclude that sks splitting observations from asia agree better with those predicted by calculations of internal lithospheric deformation due to indentation by india than with strain predicted from motion of the lithosphere over the deeper mantle these results place constraints on the depth range where shear wave splitting occurs which we propose lies predominantly within the lithospheric mantle

iapetus suture located beneath the north sea by birps deep seismic reflection profiling the iapetus suture one of the more fundamental geologic boundaries of the british isles has been located beneath the north sea by deep seismic reflection profiling carried out by the british institutions reflection profiling syndicate birps reflection profiling and magnetotelluric sounding have previously been used to infer the position of the iapetus suture beneath the irish sea and the southern uplands but the present study provides the first direct evidence for the location of the iapetus suture east of britain a comparison of the seismic reflection profiles over the iapetus suture east and west of britain shows variations in the dip of the suture which steepens to the northeast beneath the north sea the comparison also reveals unexpected changes in lower crustal reflectivity along the strike of the suture and suggests that there may be no straightforward relation in this area between the crustal reflectivity and the crustal age

deformation and mantle flow beneath the sangihe subduction zone from seismic anisotropy abstract subduction of oceanic lithosphere is the most direct feedback between the earth s surface and deep interior however the detail of its interaction with the broader convecting mantle is still unclear mantle flow around subduction zones can be constrained using seismic anisotropy but despite many such studies a simple global picture is lacking the sangihe subduction zone where the molucca sea microplate is subducting westward beneath the eurasian plate is part of the tectonically complex sulawesi philippine region and an ideal natural laboratory to study complex subduction processes we investigate the anisotropic structure of the sangihe subduction zone with shear wave splitting measurements of local s and sks phases at two stations mni in sulawesi dav in the philippines as well as downgoing s phases at five stations at teleseismic distances combining different phases allows a better vertical resolution of anisotropic fabrics than is possible with a single phase the broad depth distribution of local events 60 630 km allows us to observe a change in splitting behaviour at 380 km depth above fast directions are trench parallel and delay times t are 0 34 0 53 s with no increase with depth we suggest this anisotropy is caused by aligned cracks possibly melt filled beneath the volcanic arc and fossil anisotropy in the overriding plate below 380 km is predominantly trench normal and t are slightly higher 0 53 0 65 s as no correlation is observed with inferred distance travelled inside the slab we attribute this anisotropy to shear layers atop the slab which are coherent from 200 to 400 km depth and perhaps extend into the transition zone sks and source side measurements show larger t 1 53 and 1 33 s respectively and trench parallel since these phases predominantly sample sub slab mantle we consider along strike lateral flow associated with the double sided subduction of the molucca sea microplate to be the most likely explanation we thus infer three dominant regions of anisotropy at the sangihe subduction zone one within the overriding lithosphere one along the slab wedge interface and one below the subducting molucca sea slab the mantle wedge above 200 km depth and the slab itself do not seem to contribute notably to the measured anisotropy this study demonstrates the insight seismic anisotropy can provide into mantle dynamics even in tectonically complex subduction systems

global patterns of azimuthal anisotropy and deformations in the continental mantle summary we present a summary of measurements of azimuthal anisotropy in the continental mantle based on the sks technique and performed mostly with the active participation of the authors the directions of polarization of the fast quasi shear wave and the time delays between the quasi shear waves are obtained at nearly 70 locations in all continents except antarctica these data are interpreted in terms of lattice preferred orientation of olivine which is caused by deformations in the mantle the depth interval responsible for anisotropy is unknown but the data suggest that it may reach at least 300 km the fast directions in sks do not show clear correlation with the fast directions of the teleseismic p at the same seismograph stations in the regions of present day convergence the fast direction of anisotropy usually aligns with the plate boundary this correlation implies that the direction of shortening is the same in the crust and the upper mantle in the regions of rifting the inferred direction of mantle flow usually aligns with the direction of extension in the crust outside the regions of recent tectonic activity we most likely observe a combined effect of frozen anisotropy in the subcrustal lithosphere and of recently formed anisotropy in the asthenosphere on a global scale in these regions there is a positive correlation between the absolute plate velocity directions and the fast directions of anisotropy the correlation is especially strong in central and eastern parts of north america a clear absence of any evidence of large scale azimuthal anisotropy in the data of long range refraction profiling for the upper 100 km of the mantle of that region implies that the effect in sks is generated mainly at greater depths in the asthenosphere orientation of olivine at these depths reflects recent and present day flow in the mantle rather than processes of a distant geologic past

self potential as a predictor of seawater intrusion in coastal groundwater boreholes abstract monitoring of self potentials sps in the chalk of england has shown that a consistent electrical potential gradient exists within a coastal groundwater borehole previously affected by seawater intrusion si and that this gradient is absent in boreholes further inland furthermore a small but characteristic reduction in this gradient was observed several days prior to si occurring we present results from a combined hydrodynamic and electrodynamic model which matches the observed phenomena for the first time and sheds light on the source mechanisms for the spatial and temporal distribution of sp the model predictions are highly sensitive to the relative contribution of electrochemical exclusion and diffusion potentials the exclusion efficiency in different rock strata geoelectric heterogeneity largely due to marls and hardgrounds with a relatively high exclusion efficiency was the key factor in controlling the magnitude of the modeled sp gradient ahead of the saline front and its evolution prior to breakthrough the model results suggest that where sufficient geoelectric heterogeneity exists borehole sp may be used as an early warning mechanism for si

spatial and temporal constraints on sources of seismic anisotropy evidence from the scottish highlands 1 routine sks splitting analyses of seismic anisotropy usually suffer from limitations in station density that hinder attempts to place spatial constraints on anisotropic fabrics data from a 20 km station spacing network in scotland show that splitting parameters vary considerably t 0 45 1 5 s 49 128 over short 10 20 km length scales improved spatial constraints then lead to tighter temporal constraints on the anisotropic sources asthenospheric fabrics due to tertiary rifting and present day plate motions do not strongly influence our results that instead correlate with lithospheric scale trends inferred from surface geology splitting observations track scotland s tectonic history from the precambrian emplacement of crustal basement and through the activation of large scale faulting and thrusting during the caledonian orogeny the shallow lithosphere beneath scotland has preserved a fossil anisotropic signature up to hundreds of millions of years after it was formed

strike slip terranes and a model for the evolution of the british and irish caledonides evidence is presented that many of the major strike faults in the british and irish caledonides were active as sinistral strike slip zones in the end silurian to pre mid devonian period some such as the highland boundary fault moved in this way at an earlier stage in the ordovician these data allow the caledonian rocks lying between the laurentian miogeocline whose basement is represented by the lewisian moine and possibly the dalradian and the gondwanaland miogeocline midland platform and welsh basin to be re analysed as a group of disorganized terranes which originated to the southwest in north america and southwest europe africa prior to the silurian the highland border terrane and northern belt terrane are interpreted as duplicated pieces of a mid ordovician sequence which was a back are to northwest subduction the midland valley terrane is interpreted as a slice of laurentian foreland onto which ophiolites were obducted in the lower ordovician but which became the basement of a continental margin arc to northwest subduction in the mid ordovician the cockburnland terrane is inferred to be part of the same arc repeated and then broken up and dispersed by continuing strike slip the connemara terrane is regarded as an allochthonous piece of the dalradian miogeocline and the south mayo terrane as a remnant of an early ordovician arc and fore arc which in mid ordovician times became a back arc marginal basin to northwest subduction the lake district wexford terrane is part of an arc to southeast subduction under gondwanaland whose activity climaxed in the mid ordovician the central terrane is interpreted as a silurian overstep assemblage which blankets the junction between laurentian and gondwanaland derived oceanic terranes and therefore iapetus is regarded as an ordovician ocean which closed prior to the silurian the model suggests that at the end of the silurian a clockwise rotating gondwanaland having carried laurentia into collision with baltica broke free and created a major sinistral strike slip zone which disrupted the ordovician palaeogeography in the british isles north american sector of iapetus