GeologyRocks

Precambrian History of England and Wales

This is the companion tutorial to the Precambrian History of the Scotland.

This tutorial looks at the Precambrian of England and Wales which by the end of the Precambrian were on a completely different continent and separated from what is now Scotland by the Iapetus Ocean.

Precambrian History of Scotland

The Precambrian of the UK is mainly located in northern Scotland, however there are outcrops in England and Wales also. The oldest rock constituents found there date to around 3450Ma and belong to the Lewisian complex. The Precambrian formations are (youngest to oldest):

• Dalradian
• Moine
• Torridonian
• Lewisian

The location of these formations is shown in Figure 1a and a sketch cross section is shown in Figure 1b.