Evolution of the Rheic Ocean

Abstract

The idea for this special issue grew from three international meetings of the IGCP (International Geoscience Programme) Project 497 — ‘The Rheic Ocean: Origin, Evolution and Correlatives’, hosted in Portsmouth, UK (5–11th July 2005), in Ankara, Turkey (23–30th June 2006) and in Évora, Portugal (27th September–4th October 2006). These meetings focused, respectively, on the ‘Devono–Carboniferous Evolution of the Northern Margin of the Rheic Ocean’, the ‘Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic Terranes in Northwest Turkey’ and the ‘Ediacaran to Viséan Crustal Growth Processes in the Ossa–Morena Zone’. A wealth of new data was presented during these meetings, and it was decided to prepare a compilation of contributions dealing with Peri- Gondwanan crustal growth in the Alleghanian–Variscan orogenic system of northern South America, North America, Western and Central Europe, and Northwest Africa. The remnants of Rheic Ocean form discontinuous exposures from Mexico in the west to eastern Europe in the Dobrogea (Romania) and Turkey. This special issue is not merely a compilation of the communications presented during these meetings. Instead, by inviting additional contributions, the two coordinated parts are designed to provide a comprehensive view of our current understanding of Late Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic tectonics in relation to Peri-Gondwanan terranes and the development of the Rheic Ocean.