GENERAL GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The two were joined during the Caledonian Orogeny. During the Caledonian Orogeny several mini-continents (including Avalonia and Baltica) that had broken off from Gondwana were joined to Laurentia by tectonic plate movement, forming a new landmass.

Detailed explanation-2: -The early Palaeozoic Caledonian mountain belt in Scotland (Fig. 1) resulted from the collision of three major plates, the Laurentian continent to the west, the Avalonian plate in the SE and Baltica in the NE (Dewey, 1969; Lambert & McKerrow, Reference Lambert and McKerrow1976; McKerrow et al.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Caledonian orogeny occurred approximately 375 million years ago and lasted 50 million years until around 325 million years ago. The mountain-building event occurred simultaneously with the Acadian orogeny in what is now North America.

Detailed explanation-5: -Caledonian orogenic belt, range of mountains situated in northwestern Europe, developed as a result of the opening, closure, and destruction of the Iapetus Ocean in the period from the start of the Cambrian (542 million years ago) to the end of the Silurian (about 416 million years ago).