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The Scandinavian Caledonides

  • Chapter
The Ocean Basins and Margins

Abstract

Almost the whole of the western edge of the landmass of Scandinavia is occupied by a 1700-km belt of deformed and sometimes metamorphosed rocks on which in the west lie a few isolated masses of relatively undeformed and completely unmetamorphosed Old Red Sandstone. The belt, shown in Fig. 1, where it contrasts with the undivided and unornamented autochthon on its east side, is subdivided in two ways. Firstly and fundamentally there is lateral division into elements running great lengths of the chain. These elements, the five zones of Fig. 1, are distinguished from one another by different rock assemblages as well as different levels of deformation and metamorphism. Boundaries between zones are not steep but gently dipping known, or presumed, thrust faults. Secondly, there is a division into Southern, Central, and Northern Caledonides over the late culminations of Grong and Rombak, which although very convenient for description are not as fundamental since the major zones appear to pass over them.

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  1. Department of Geology, The University, Manchester, England

    Robin Nicholson

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  1. Department of Geology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

    Alan E. M. Nairn

  2. Department of Geology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Francis G. Stehli

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Nicholson, R. (1974). The Scandinavian Caledonides. In: Nairn, A.E.M., Stehli, F.G. (eds) The Ocean Basins and Margins. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3033-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3033-2_6

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