Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:55:13.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strike-slip, terrane accretion and the pre-Carboniferous evolution of the Midland Valley of Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

E. R. Phillips ,
R. A. Smith  and
S. Carroll
E. R. Phillips
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA
R. A. Smith
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA
S. Carroll
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The development of the Midland Valley of Scotland from Silurian times is re-examined. Earlier (Cambro-Ordovician) terrane accretion of the Midland Valley Terrane to the Laurentian continent by sinistral strike-slip continued to control basin development, sedimentary facies distribution and deformation from Llandovery through to at least early Devonian times. A widespread Mid- to Late-Wenlock strike-slip event has been recognised. This event is variable in its effect, but may indicate a direct link between the Midland Valley, Southern Uplands and Grampian terranes, suggesting that the terranes were juxtaposed by Mid-Wenlock times. In the Midland Valley this event was followed by a renewed phase of basin development with the deposition of ?Pridoli-Lower Devonian clastic sediments which was interrupted by the Lower Devonian volcanic event. There was a shift northwards in the focus of Lower Devonian basin development which was accompanied by a diachronous deformation event across the Midland Valley which resulted in inversion/uplift from early to middle Devonian times. This phase of deformation, uplift and erosion may be related to end-Caledonian transpression.

Keywords

Midland ValleyLower Palaeozoic rocksSiluro-Devonianprovenancebasin evolutionstrike-slipterrane accretion
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 88 , Issue 4 , 1997 , pp. 209 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armstrong, M. & Paterson, I. B. 1970. The Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Strathmore region. Institute of Geological Sciences Report 70/12.Google Scholar
Armstrong, M., Paterson, I. B. & Browne, M. A. E. 1985. Geology of the Perth and Dundee district. Memoir of the British Geological Survey. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Barnes, R. P., Lintern, B. C. & Stone, P. 1989. Short Paper: Timing and regional implications of deformation in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 153, 197–205.Google Scholar
Barnes, R. P.. Phillips, E. R. & Boland, M. P. 1995. The Orlock Bridge Fault in the Southern Uplands of southwestern Scotland: a terrane boundary? Geological Magazine 132, 523–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BGS, 1995. Hamilton. Scotland Sheet 23W. Solid. 1: 50 000. (Keyworth, Nottingham: British Geological Survey.)Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1978. Sedimentation in a late orogenic basin: the Old Red Sandstone of the Midland Valley of Scotland. In Bowes, D. R. & Leake, B. E. (eds) Crustal evolution in northwestern Britain and adjacent regions. Geological Journal Special Issue 10, 249–78.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1983. Role of the Midland Valley of Scotland in the Caledonian orogeny. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 74, 110–36.Google Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1984. Pre-Carboniferous history of the Midland Valley of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 75, 275–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. 1985. The Scottish paratectonic Caledonides. Scottish Journal of Geology 21, 437–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, S. 1995. Geology of the Stonehaven district. British Geological Survey Technical Report WA/94/19.Google Scholar
Christie-Brick, N. & Biddle, K. T. 1985. Deformation and basin formation along strike-slip faults. In Christie-Blick, N. & Biddle, K. T. (eds) Strike-slip deformation, basin formation and sedimentation. Special Publication of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists 37, 1–34.Google Scholar
Cocks, L. R. M. & Toghill, P. 1973. The biostratigraphy of the Silurian rocks of the Girvan district, Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society of London 129, 209–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, G. B., Bluck, B. J., Burton, C. J.. Ingham, J. K., Siveter, D. J. & Williams, A. 1984. Age, evolution and tectonic history of the Highland Border Complex. Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 75, 113–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickinson, W. R. & Suczek, C. A. 1979. Plate tectonics and sandstone compositions. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 63, 2164–82.Google Scholar
Dorning, K. J. 1982. Early Wenlock acritarchs from the Knockgardner and Straiton Grit formations of Knockgardner, Ayrshire. Scottish Journal of Geology 18, 267–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gans, P. B., Mahood, G. A. & Schermer, E. 1989. Syn-extensional magmatism in the Basin and Range Province: a case study from the eastern Great Basin. Geological Society of America Special Paper 233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillen, C. & Trewin, N. H. 1987. Excursion 23. Stonehaven to Dunnottar and the Highland Boundary Fault. In Trewin, N. H.. Kneller, B. C. & Gillen, C. (eds) Excursion guide to the geology of the Aberdeen area, 265–73. Geological Society of Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Halliday, A. N., Stephens, W. E. & Harmon, R. S. 1980. Rb–Sr and O isotopic relationships in 3 zoned Caledonian granitic plutons. Southern Uplands, Scotland: evidence for varied sources and hybridization of magmas. Journal of the Geological Society of London 137, 329–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W. B., Cox, A. V., Llewellyn, P. G., Pickton, C. A. G.. Smith, A. G. & Waters, R. 1982. A geologic time scale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B.. Armstrong, R. L., Cox, A. V., Craig, L. E., Smith, A. G. & Smith, D. G. 1989. A geologic time scale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Harte, B., Booth, J. E., Dempster, T. J.. Fettes, D. J., Mendum, J. R. & Watts, D. 1984. Aspects of the post-depositional evolution of Dalradian and highland Border Complex rocks in the Southern Highlands of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 75, 151–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haughton, P. D. W. 1988. A cryptic Caledonian flysch terrane in Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 145, 685–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haughton, P. D. W. 1989. Structure of some Lower Old Red Sandstone conglomerates. Kincardineshire, Scotland: deposition from late-orogenic antecedent streams? Journal of the Geological Society, London 146, 509–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haughton, P. D. W. 1993. Simultaneous dispersal of volcaniclastic and non-volcaniclastic sediment in fluvial basins: examples from the Lower Old Red Sandstone, east-central Scotland. In Marzo, M. & Puigdefabregas, C. (eds) Alluvial sedimentation. 451–71. Blackwell Scientific Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haughton, P. D. W. & Bluck, B. J. 1988. Diverse alluvial sequences from the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Strathmore region. Scotland—implications for the relationship between late Caledonian tectonics and sedimentation. Proceedings of the 2nd international symposium on the Devonian system. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 14, 269–293.Google Scholar
Haughton, P. D. W. & Halliday, A. N. 1991. Significance of late Caledonian igneous complex revealed in the Lower Old Red Sandstone conglomerates, central Scotland. Geological Society of America Bulletin 103, 1476–92.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haughton, P. D. W., Rodgers, G. & Halliday, A. N. 1990. Provenance of Lower Old Red Sandstone conglomerates, SE Kincardineshire: evidence for the timing of Caledonian terrane accretion in central Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 147, 105–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinz, W. & Loeschke, J. 1988. Volcanic clasts in Silurian conglomerates of the Midland Valley (Hagshaw Hills inlier) Scotland and their meaning for Caledonian plate tectonics. Geologische Rundschau 77/2, 453–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutton, D. H. W. 1987. Strike-slip terranes and a model for the evolution of the British and Irish Caledonides. Geological Magazine 124, 405–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutton, D. H. W. & McErlean, M. 1991. Silurian and Early Devonian sinistral deformation of the Ratagain granite, Scotland: constraints on the age of Caledonian movements on the Great Glen fault system. Journal of the Geological Society, London 148, 1–4.Google Scholar
Le Bas, M. J., Le Maitre, R. W., Streckeisen, A. & Zanettin, B. 1986. A Chemical Classification of volcanic rocks based on the Total Alkali-Silica Diagram. Journal of Petrology 27, 745–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leggett, J. K. 1980. The sedimentological evolution of a Lower Palaeozoic accretionary fore-arc in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Sedimentology 27, 401–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, P.Hempton, M. R., Bradley, D. C. & Burke, K. 1983. Development of pull-apart basins. Journal of Geology 91, 529–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, J. E. A. 1991. Palynology of the Stonehaven Group, Scotland: evidence for a Mid Silurian age and its geological implications. Geological Magazine 128, 283–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, J. E. A., Haughton, P. D. W. & Hillier, S. J. 1994. Vitrinite reflectivity and the structure and burial history of the Old Red Sandstone of the Midland Valley of Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 151, 425–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKerrow, W. S. & Elders, C. F. 1989. Movements on the Southern Upland Fault. Journal of the Geological Society, London 146, 393–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGiven, A. 1967. Sedimentation and provenance of post-Valentian conglomerates up to and including the basal conglomerate of the Lower Old Red Sandstone in the southern part of the Midland Valley of Scotland. University of Glasgow PhD Thesis, unpublished.Google Scholar
Mitchell, G. H. & Mykura, W. 1962. The geology of the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Memoirs of the Geological Survey Scotland. 3rd Edition. Edinburgh: HMSO.Google Scholar
Oliver, G. J. H., Smellie, J. L., Thomas, L. J., Casey, D. M.. Kemp, A. E. S., Evans, L. J.. Baldwin, J. R. & Hepworth, B. C. 1984. Early Palaeozoic metamorphic history of the Midland Valley. Southern Uplands-Longford-Down massif and the lake District. British Isles. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 75, 245–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, J. A. 1983. Role of the sub-continental lithosphere in magma genesis at active continental margins. In Hawkesworth, C. J. & Norry, M. J. (eds) Continental basalts and mantle xenoliths. 230–49. Shiva Publishing Ltd: Nantwich, Cheshire.Google Scholar
Phillips, E. R. 1994. Whole-rock geochemistry of the calc-alkaline Old Red Sandstone lavas. Sheet 15 (New Cumnock). Scotland. British Geological Survey Technical Report WG/94/1.Google Scholar
Phillips, E. R. & Carroll, S. 1995. The petrology and provenance of the basal Lower Old Red Sandstone exposed between Ruthery Head and Dunnicaer, Stonehaven. Scotland. British Geological Survey Technical Report WG/95/21.Google Scholar
Phillips, E. R. & Smith, R. A. 1995. The petrology and provenance of the Lower Old Red Sandstone. New Cumnock, Scotland. British Geological Survey Technical Report WG/95/31.Google Scholar
Phillips, E. R., Barnes, R. P., Boland, M. P., Fortey, N. J. & McMillan, A. A. 1995. The Moniaive Shear Zone: a major zone of sinistral strike-slip deformation in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology 31, 139–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. B. 1967. Some British Lower Devonian spore assemblages and their stratigraphic significance. Reviews in Palaeobotany and Palynology 1, 111–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. B., Ford, J. H. & Parker, F. 1984. Miospores. correlation and age of some Scottish Lower Old Red Sandstone sediments from the Strathmore region (Fife and Angus). Journal of Micropalaeontology 3, 109–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, G. 1989. A palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the Silurian rocks of the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 80, 127–41.Google Scholar
Robertson, S. 1987. Early sinistral transpression in the Lower Old Red Sandstone of Kincardineshire. Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology 23, 261–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rock, N. M. S., Gasgarth, J. W. & Rundle, C. C. 1986. Late Caledonian dyke-swarms in southern Scotland: a regional zone of primitive K-rich lamprophyres and associated vents. Journal of Geology 94, 505–22.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. 1960. The Silurian inlier of Carmichael, Lanarkshire. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 64, 245–60.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. 1961. The geology of the Hagshaw Hills Silurian inlier, Lanarkshire. Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society 18, 240–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. 1973. The Hagshaw Hills Silurian inlier. In Bluck, B. J. (ed.) Excursion guide to the geology of the Glasgow district, 105–16. Geological Society of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. & Fritz, M. A. 1966. Recent evidence for the age of the Haeshaw hills inlier, Lanarkshire. Scottish Journal of Geology 2, 159–64.Google Scholar
Serrane, M. 1992. Devonian extensional tectonics versus Carboniferous inversion in the northern Orcadian basin. Journal of the Geological Society, London 149, 27–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, J. B. 1986. Provenance and setting of some Ordovician and Silurian conglomerates in Northern Ireland. Scottish Journal of Geology 22, 63–76.Google Scholar
Smith, R. A. 1995. The Siluro-Devonian evolution of the southern Midland Valley of Scotland. Geological Magazine 132, 503–13.Google Scholar
Soper, N. J., Strachan, R. A., Holdsworth, R. E., Gayer, R. A. & Greiling, R. O. 1992. Sinistral transpression and the Silurian closure of Iapetus. Journal of the Geological Society, London 149, 871–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, P. & Rushton, A. W. A. 1983. Graptolite faunas from the Ballantrae ophiolite complex and their structural implications. Scottish Journal of Geology 19, 297–310.Google Scholar
Syba, E. 1989. The sedimentation and provenance of the Lower Old Red Sandstone Greywacke Conglomerate, southern Midland Valley, Scotland. University of Glasgow PhD thesis, unpublished.Google Scholar
Thirlwall, M. F. 1981. Implications for Caledonian plate tectonic models of chemical data from volcanic rocks of the British Old Red Sandstone. Journal of the Geological Society, London 138, 123–38.Google Scholar
Thirlwall, M. F. 1983. Isotope geochemistry and origin of calc-alkaline lavas from a Caledonian continental margin volcanic arc. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 18, 589–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thirlwall, M. F. 1988. Geochronology of British Caledonian Magmatism in northern Britain. Journal of the Geological Society. London 145, 921–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thirlwall, M. F. 1989. Movement on proposed terrane boundaries in northern Britain: constraints from Ordocivian-Devonian igneous rocks. Journal of the Geological Society, London 146, 373–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thirlwall, M. F. & Bluck, B. J. 1984. Sr/Nd isotope and geochemical evidence that the Ballantrae ‘ophiolite’, SW Scotland is polygenetic. In Gass, I. G., Lippard, S. J. & Shelton, A. W. (eds) Ophiolites and oceanic lithosphere. Geological Society of London Special Publication 13, 215–30.Google Scholar
Watson, J. 1984. The ending of the Caledonian orogeny in Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 141, 193–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wellman, C. H. 1993. A land plant microfossil assemblage of Mid Silurian age from the Stonehaven Group. Scotland. Journal of Micropalaeontology 12, 47–66.Google Scholar
Wellman, C. H. & Richardson, J. B. 1993. Terrestrial plant microfossils from Silurian inliers of the Midland Valley of Scotland. Palaeontology 36, 155–93.Google Scholar
Williams, D. M. & Harper, D. A. T. 1988. A basin model for the Silurian of the Midland Valley of Scotland and Ireland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 145, 741–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar