Late Caledonian northeastward ophiolite thrusting in the Shetland Islands, U.K.
Abstract
Kinematic analysis of the deformation in the Shetland ophiolitic nappe (Unst and Fetlar islands) and in the underthrust Caledonian basement indicates a northeastward sense of nappe emplacement. This deformation is interpreted as Silurian in age. It occurred in greenschist facies metamorphic conditions and it post-dated the initial thrusting of the ophiolite in the oceanic domain. The similarities found between the emplacement histories of the Shetland and Scandinavian ophiolites can be accounted for by a three-plate model for the Caledonian orogen. The northeasterly direction of nappe emplacement in Shetland, parallel to the axis of the Caledonian belt, is attributed to the proximity of a zone of large sinistral transcurrent motion.
- Publication:
-
Tectonophysics
- Pub Date:
- November 1989
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0040-1951(89)90090-5
- Bibcode:
- 1989Tectp.169..257C