Ardennes

Laurussia and Gondwana are two large paleocontinents that collided in the Late Paleozoic ; this collision formed Pangaea and built, among other things, the Variscan Mountains , of which the Ardennes are a heavily eroded remnant, related to the Appalachians and an early contemporary of the formation of the Urals . This occurred approximately 380 and 300 million years ago, more specifically from the Late Devonian to the Late Carboniferous .

The term “ Appalachian–Variscan megasuture ” is used for the huge, continuous collision zone where Laurussia (Euramerica) and Gondwana collided in the Late Paleozoic, forming Pangaea; this zone runs from the Appalachians and Ouachitas in North America through the Variscides in Europe (= e.g. Ardennes, Massif Central, Bohemian Massif, parts of Iberia) and to related belts in North Africa (e.g. Mauritanids).

The Urals formed somewhat later, when Siberia (and Kazakhstania) collided with the eastern edge of Laurussia in the Late Permian ; this collision closed the Ural Ocean and completed the formation of Pangaea on its eastern side.

Pascal Brackman