A central European Variscide source for Upper Carboniferous sediments in SW England: Ar-40/Ar-39 detrital white mica ages from the Forest of Dean Basin
Sc. Sherlock et al., A central European Variscide source for Upper Carboniferous sediments in SW England: Ar-40/Ar-39 detrital white mica ages from the Forest of Dean Basin, J GEOL SOC, 157, 2000, pp. 905-908
Ar-40/Ar-39 detrital white mica ages from a Westphalian CID sediment in the
Varisan foreland Forest of Dean Basin (SW England) range from 309 +/- 12 t
o 371 +/- 2 Ma, Combining these ages with chemical data from the detrital w
hite micas constrain their provenance to two sources: reworked Westphalian
A to C, and, more controversially, the central European Variscides. Taking
into account the palaeogeography of the Late Devonian to Late Carboniferous
, the sediment derived from the central European Variscides must have resid
ed in a holding basin proximal to their source for 30-40 Ma. During the Mid
- to Late Carboniferous sediment was transported longitudinally from east t
o west along the Variscan front. Deposition and mixing of the two source co
mponents took place in the Forest of Dean Basin at approximately 307 Ma.