Terrane Map of Europe

For the first post of the year, I would like to include a link to an interesting map containing the major terranes of Europe, as it has been compiled by Martin S. Oczlon.

http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~oh3/terranemap/

Martin has used more than 2600 references for this outstanding work, and you will appreciate that when you will see the detailed mapping labour.

From the website of the terrane map of Europe:

WHAT CAN THIS MAP TELL YOU?

The aim of this map is to provide a view on the growth of Europe throughout its billions of years of evolution, applying a self-explanatory colour scheme. It is designed to allow also readers without much background on the geology of Europe to access the basic concepts on the assembly and accretionary history of the continent. At the same time, it provides in-depth information and key arguments for the various assignments.

Every part of the European crust with the same provenance, accreted at the same time or in one diachronous event, is given the same colour. Following Late Palaeozoic accretion of Gondwana-derived terranes, almost all of the crust that currently makes Europe was already assembled by ca. 280 million years. Therefore, terrane-description focuses mainly on their Palaeozoic and older pre-/syn-accretionary evolution. The younger sutures and ophiolite belts of southern Europe are the result of Meso-Cainozoic opening and closure of small oceanic basins within the previously accreted crust. These sutures are shown with a line-framework that outlines the boundaries of the major Alpine tectonic units.

For a better understanding of terrane-provenance, palaeogeographic reconstructions of Earth at 543, 444, 375, 299, and 195 million years are shown on the right-hand side of the map. Colours of the various palaeo-continents and terranes are the same as on the Terrane Map, allowing easy recognition of the past position of continental fragments that now form part of Europe.

And, before I forget it...

Happy 2010!!


(August'10 edition: links corrected to new address)