Talk:Variscan orogeny

Antics
Wonderful idea. Gee, I haven't even finished working on the article, but this instant response is great. The Encyclopedia Britannica under Europe treats Variscan and Hercynian as synonyms. To try and pin the orogeny down to a narrow range, I'm not sure that works. Geologists are always trying to define these orogenies. Would it be better to keep it general?Botteville 14:46, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

I'd agree with a merge, the Hercynian is variably referred to as a synonym for the Variscan, a period at the end of the Variscan, or a structural belt associated with it. The usage is not clear or consistent. Vsmith 03:52, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

As a European geologist I can only tell the trend: Variscan is used for the orogenic event, which began with collisions in the early Devonian and finished with foreland deformations by ca. 300 Ma. Hercynian refers to late orogenic events only, i.e. deformation and unconformities that took place in Carboniferous times, as defined in the Harz mountains.

early paleozoic?
The Variscan orogeny is given in the article as occuring aprox between 390Ma and 310Ma in the "early Paleozoic". Firstly (and unimportantly), does Ma stand for "Million years ago"? Secondly (and a bit more importantly), the dates given (between 390-310 Ma) are probably more applicable to the later Paleozoic. Which is correct?

First: yes, Ma stands for Mega-annum (million years before present), it is as far as I know the international convention, though Mya is also used. Second: it should indeed be later paleozoic. Woodwalker 21:37, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Topic revision
The Hercynian comprises a number of orogenic cycles of which the Variscan orogeny is but one. This includes the Acado-Ligerian, Bretonian, Variscan and Alleghenian. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.28.226.91 (talk • contribs).

As Variscan is said to be s a subset of Hercynian the redirect from Hercynian orogeny to Variscan orogeny doesn't really make sense. There should be some major reworking on this. --Jo (talk) 23:22, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

The whole article is very Europe-centered, which is not surprising, as the term was Variscan was coined in Europe. If I remember correctly the term Variscan is a complete synonym for Hercynian, the former being used in central Europe, the latter more internationally and in UK and US (found no references yet). But today the term Hercanian orogeny has a wider meaning, as there are hercynian mountains in the US and in the Near and Far East resulting from the collison of Gondwana and Euramerica/Asia to form Pangäa (see Variscan mountains). --Jo (talk) 14:44, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

Help with creation of North Sea Geological History
There is an effort to try to get the North Sea article passed to GA status, and a request was made by the reviewer for the geological history. An article has been roughly begun North Sea Geological History to summarize into the North Sea article. If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated! SriMesh | talk  01:11, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Hercynian orogeny
A search at Google scholar brings up many uses of the term "Hercynian orogeny" in recent publications, in spite of what the Wikipedian pundit tells us here.--Wetman (talk) 23:34, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Indeed, in Spain we tend to use more Hercynian Orogeny than Variscan Orogeny, and in any case they are virtual synonyms. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.116.23.136 (talk) 10:19, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

"Variscides"
The term Variscides crops up once: why not substitute the approrpiate expression already being employed?--Wetman (talk) 17:28, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Pangean mountains, Tethys rift ?
Inexpertly, the ancient terranes of Avalonia, Armorica, Cimmeria, and south & north China, may have formed a long super-terrane, stretching along, and forming, the (then-)northern coast of Gondwana. Those terranes had been attached to Africa, Arabia, India, & Australia:
 * http://s10.postimage.org/o10goj0rt/Avalonia_Armorica_Cimmeria_China_superterrane.png

Inexpertly, the uplift of the central Pangean mountains, from c.400-300Ma, can be entirely attributed to the collision of the continents, of Euramerica (northwest) and Gondwana (southeast). Please ponder, that crustal rock commonly compresses or stretches by factors of 1.5-2.0. Thus, the continental shelves of Euramerica & Gondwana can be "stretched out to reach each other", in the Devonian period c.375Ma. Then what could have caused the opening of the Tethys sea, and the eventual rifting through of Pangea? By c.300Ma, Gondwana had migrated to earth's south pole; and Australia shifted south by about 40°. But north & south China, Cimmeria, and the rest of that long super-terrane evidently remained accreted to Euramerica. Ergo, a rift opened up behind (to the north of) Australia, in its wake; and that rift gradually worked its way inland, peeling apart Euramerica + mountainous super-terrane (north) from Gondwana (south). By c.200Ma, that rift reached the region of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, which flood basalts resulted from the rifting.
 * http://s15.postimage.org/dmf59c8bf/Pangean_mountains_Tethys_rift.png

66.235.38.214 (talk) 14:32, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Asian extension of Variscan mountains ??
No other Wikipedia article, describing the Pamir, Altai, or other Asian mountain ranges, indicated in the second figure, discuss any Paleozoic origin, for those orogenies. Is that second figure accurate?? 66.235.38.214 (talk) 07:59, 19 October 2012 (UTC)