Wealden detrital tourmaline: implications for northwestern Europe

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Abstract
Wealden detritus in S England and NW France suggests ultimate derivation from an ancient complex. This had affinities with present-day Cornubia, Armorica and NW Iberia, which apparently represent its relict flanks. Westwards, lay a Cadomian-Caledonian core. Repeated tourmalinizations occurred from pre-Cambrian times onward. These were postdeformational and may have followed separate orogenies. Geographically, the massif probably focussed on what is now the continental margin, over the Southwestern Aproaches. Structurally, it was the Cadomian-Hercynian-Galician-Caledonian convergence. Eastwards the hills diverged to encompass a lowland depression, divided into northern and southern basins by the Cornubian island. After the first sediment arrived in the ?Permian there were important fluctuations of supply and composition during the late Trias/early Jurassic, late Jurassic/early Cretaceous and Hastings Beds/Weald Clay. These may have been related to movements of the massif generated by changes in North Atlantic spreading rates and opening of Biscay.