What is Avalonia?
[[File:Euramerica en.svg|thumb|250px|The [[Old Red Sandstone]] Continent in the Devonian]] '''Avalonia''' was a micro[[continent]] in the [[Palaeozoic]] [[era]]. Parts of this old microcontinent lie under south-west [[Great Britain]], southern [[Ireland]], and the eastern coast of [[North America]]. Bits of it are in Europe, [[Canada]], and parts of the East coast of the [[United States]]. Avalonia is named after the [[Avalon Peninsula]] in [[Newfoundland]]. [[Image:Caledonides EN.svg|right|thumb|250px|Location of the Caledonian/Acadian mountain chains in the Early Devonian Epoch. Present day coastlines are shown for reference. Red lines are sutures, capitalized names are the different continents/super-terranes that joined during the Caledonian orogeny.]] Avalonia started as a chain of volcanoes on the northern margin of [[Gondwana]]. It became a drifting microcontinent. The [[Iapetus Ocean]] in front of it slowly shrank. Avalonia collided with other continents. It ended up in the middle of [[Pangaea]]. When Pangaea broke up, Avalonia's remains were divided by the rift which became the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. That is how it came to be part in [[western Europe]], and part in eastern [[North America]]. [[Category:Continents]] [[Category:Geology]] [[Category:Palaeozoic]]