Unraveling Anglesey's Geological Diversity

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Introduction:
Anglesey is an island located to the North West of Wales. It is separated by a narrow stretch of tidally influenced water called the Menai Strait.

Fig.1 Map showing Anglesey in relation to Ireland and England (Left) Anglesey in relation to Wales and England (Right). Images sourced & adapted from www.vacationstogo.com and news.bbc.co.uk The island of Anglesey, for such a small island, has a great diversity of rock types. To the average everyday person walking along the coast, you would without a doubt notice the rock type variation and striking features. But, to a geologist, it tells a remarkable story of the history of the island. Angleseys past adventure can be re-written by examining the rocks seen at its surface.
Millions …show more content…

Yellow star showing Anglesey. Image sourced and adapted from http://www.iatnl.com/
Ocean floor subduction was ongoing and as Avolonia continued to move north, the Iapetus Ocean closed and Avolonia crashed into Laurentia and Baltica. Due to this subduction and closing of the Iapetus, Ireland became one. England and wales also joined with Scotland. But the story isn’t over just yet, although wales and England were now joined with Scotland, they still had some distance to go until they reached their present day location. Fig.6 showing a map of Earth during the Devonian period. Yellow star showing Anglesey. http://eeos260-f13-poynton.wikispaces.umb.edu/-/Ancient%20Wiki%20Project/Grp10%20Devonian%20and%20Silurian%20Periods/

During the Devonian period (~390mya), Anglesey drifted toward the equator. Anglesey, (including Ireland, England and Scotland) as a result endured hot, arid, terrestrial conditions. Rocks, such as old Red sandstone were formed as a result and can be seen in Anglesey …show more content…

Image sourced and adapted from www.geol.umd.edu.
By the Carboniferous period (~359-299 Mya) Anglesey had passed the equator. The environment here was shallow marine and Carboniferous Limestone was formed. 255mya all continents managed to collide forming one supercontinent, Pangea. At this moment in time Anglesey was located in the Northern hemisphere.
During the Jurassic period, Pangea began to break up and by the time of the Late Cretaceous, ~94 Mya, the Atlantic Ocean began to open and Pangea continued to break apart. Due to this breakage of continents, there were extreme volcanic activity and much evidence can be seen of this all around the world today. In Anglesey, there are many igneous dykes and sills that have intruded older rocks that have been dated back to this time. This movement of continents continued into the Cenozoic era which is the current and most recent geological era consisting of the past 65 million years. It was during this time that Anglesey reached its current, present day

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