Geophysical correlation between the geological zonation of Newfoundland and the British Isles

All available gravity and magnetic data for Newfoundland, the British Isles, and their adjacent continental margins are compiled on an early Mesozoic, precontinental drift reconstruction of the North Atlantic. These data support geological correlation between the southern termination of the Caledonides and the northern termination of the Appalachians. Geological zones southeast of the postulated early Paleozoic suture in both Newfoundland and the British Isles have distinctive geophysical signatures, and these may be extrapolated to locations at the edge of the continental shelf that were in close proximity in early Mesozoic time. Geological zones northwest of the suture also have associated distinctive geophysical anomalies, but their correlations on the early Mesozoic reconstruction are more tenuous because (1) off Ireland the zones converge and trend toward a low-angle intersection with the continental margin, (2) off Newfoundland the zones diverge and trend perpendicular to the margin, and (3) the Mesozoic location of Rockall Plateau, the intervening continental fragment, is poorly defined.