Norway in space and time: A Centennial cavalcade

From her Archaean roots to her Neogene post-glacial rebound, Norway displays a magnificent array of varied geological structures and concepts. This review outlines the geological history of the country, emphasising the enormous amount of geological discoveries that have been made in the past century. The boundaries of the ancient terrane of Baltica run beneath the extended Mesozoic margin offshore Norway, the Trans-European Suture Zone lies to the southwest and the Ural Mountains to the east. Baltica became isolated after the break-up of the Rodinia supercontinent and its Late Vendian separation from Laurentia (opening of the lapetus Ocean), and continued so until the latest Ordovician and Silurian, when she first collided softly with Avalonia and then more forcefully with Laurentia to shape Laurussia during the Scandian part of the Caledonide Orogeny. Further terranes subsequently amalgamated with Laurussia to form Pangea by the end of the Palaeozoic. Pangea broke up in stages during the Mesozoic, leaving Norway at the northwestern margin of Eurasia, where she remains today. A revised apparent polar wander path and palaeogeographic reconstructions of Norway through time are presented and discussed.