Variscan Fold Belt and Its Foreland in Western Europe from Late Carboniferous to Permian Time

A. Mascle, F. Benard, M. Cazes, B. Le Gall

The Variscan front was emplaced in the Late Carboniferous with a south-to-north or southeast-to-northwest-trending vergence of thrusting. At the same time, folds were formed in the foreland. In England and southern Scotland, such structures were induced by an east-west direction of shortening, followed by a more subdued north-south compressive event. In Stephanian time, isolated basins developed on the Hercynian belt. In the Massif Central and Maures Massif, they are closely related to transcurrent faults which developed in response to north-south-trending compressive stresses. The distribution of stresses completely changed in Early Permian time when extension dominated almost everywhere. Three kinds of basins developed at that time: those related to the relaxation of st esses on the Hercynian range, a north-south-trending rift system in the western United Kingdom and the North Sea, and a broad flexural evaporitic basin from eastern England to Poland.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.