The Welsh Basin was an area of enhanced Early Palaeozoic subsidence on the northwestern margin of the Eastern Avalonian microcontinent. It is bordered to the southeast by the Midland Platform and to the northwest by the smaller Irish Sea Platform (Fig. 1). The sedimentary rocks of the basin and its flanking platforms range from Lower Cambrian through Lower Devonian. The sequence is dominantly marine, with abundant volcanics in the Ordovician. A basinwide change to non-marine facies is preserved in the Lower Devonian, heralding basin inversion and the culminating Acadian (late Caledonian) Orogeny.

Gravity and aeromagnetic data sets provide systematic coverage over the whole of the Welsh Basin. Physical property information shows considerable overlap in densities within the Lower Palaeozoic and Precambrian formations, with relatively few units of the exposed succession being strongly magnetic. While the geophysical anomalies cannot be interpreted unambiguously in terms of these sources, the data can still be used to test different geological models and to indicate the range of possible solutions. The major fault zones are seen to influence the anomaly patterns in a variety of ways, reflecting a combination of differing near-surface contrasts and effects within the underlying basement. The general increase in gravity values towards Cardigan Bay may originate from the lower crust, and the large amplitude aeromagnetic low seen over Cardigan Bay indicates that a distinctive change in the character of the crust occurs here. Two-dimensional modelling in central Wales shows that a westward thickening of the Welsh Basin, to a maximum of about 10 km, may also be significant. It is necessary to postulate a separation of the base of denser, Lower Palaeozoic rocks from the underlying, more magnetic basement in order to account for offsets in anomaly source locations. This implies the presence of less dense Cambrian sediments and/or non-magnetic components of the Precambrian basement.

Regional gravity and aeromagnetic data of Wales have been processed using a variety of techniques. Image processing has greatly assisted qualitative interpretation, whilst automated procedures have provided additional quantitative information. The shaded relief images emphasize gradients in the potential fields, and are useful for displaying strong linear features. The Euler deconvolution method produces plotted solution maps, which define the position of the source of the gravity and magnetic anomalies. Euler solution maps of Wales and the adjacent continental shelf are presented for the first time. These maps are interpreted in relation to the known geology, with special emphasis on the Lower Palaeozoic Welsh Basin. It is proposed that the Euler solutions define a network of fault-bounded blocks within the Precambrian basement.

In the last two years, new palaeomagnetic data from Wales have resulted in radical revision of the Ordovician palaeogeography of Eastern Avalonia, part of the southern margin of the Iapetus Ocean. Combined with Palaeozoic palaeomagnetic data from Laurentia and Gondwana, these data suggest that Eastern Avalonia was a peri-Gondwanide high latitude continental fragment during at least part of Ordovician time, with a palaeolatitude of about 62° S and 51° S in Arenig and Llanvirn time, respectively. This implies a latitudinal width of the early Ordovician Iapetus Ocean between Eastern Avalonia and Laurentia of at least 30°. Geological evidence for the proximity of Eastern Avalonia and Laurentia suggests that the intervening Iapetus Ocean closed during Silurian time, from late Llandovery to early Ludlow. Recent palaeolatitude data from the Iapetus bordering continents are consistent with closure by middle to late Silurian time. New pre-Acadian early Devonian palaeomagnetic data from the Old Red Sandstone places the Welsh Basin at about 17° S, consistent with a palaeogeography in which Laurentia, Baltica, Avalonia, Armorica, and possibly Gondwana, were part of a single supercontinent. Pervasive late Carboniferous/early Permian remagnetization affects the Welsh Basin. The remagnetization is probably associated with fluids emanating from the Variscan thrust front. We do not observe remagnetization associated with Acadian orogeny and the remagnetizations, which have been studied in more detail in North America, appear to be a unique feature of the Variscan-Hercynian-Alleghenian orogeny.

Until recently no Cambrian rocks were known in the Llangynog area. Detailed mapping has now revealed a succession of ?Lower and Upper Cambrian rocks overlain by Tremadoc rocks. The Allt y Shed Sandstones (new) rest unconformably on the Precambrian, but have yielded no diagnostic fossils and are tentatively assigned to the Comley Series. Succeeding with faulted or unconformable contact is an Upper Cambrian Merioneth Series succession which includes in ascending order: conglomerates, sandstones and siltstones with olenid trilobites and resembling the Treffgarne Bridge Beds of the Haverfordwest area; micaceous shales and siltstones referred to the Ffestiniog Flags Formation; and black mudstones with calcareous concretions and a rich olenid fauna referred to the Dolgellau Formation. Succeeding the latter with possible disconformity is a succession belonging to the lower part of the Tremadoc Series and earlier than any rocks of that series hitherto recorded from the area.

The Habberley Formation overlies the Shineton Shale Formation in the Shelve Inlier, Shropshire, and includes the youngest Tremadoc strata known from the Welsh Basin. It probably represents deposition during the interval cut out by the sub-Arenig unconformity in North Wales, and removed by the sub-Caradoc unconformity in the Wrekin district. There is no angular unconformity between Tremadoc and Arenig in the Shelve Inlier. The Habberley Formation is likely to correlate in part with the Hunnebergian Stage of Scandinavia. It was deposited probably in a largely stagnant basin, and records a shallowing-upwards sequence, prior to the Arenig transgression of the Stiperstones Quartzite. A sparse trilobite fauna proves the presence of the Angelina sedg vickii Biozone, and a succeeding interval is characterized by Asaphellus cf. graffi. The trilobites are briefly described; they include the first undistorted material of Angelina sedgwvickii. The brachiopod Lingulella bella (Walcott), hitherto known only from eastern Newfoundland, is described by A. W. A. Rushton.

A preliminary geochemical investigation of Silurian (Llandovery) basinal mudstones (turbidites and hemipelagites) from the Southern Welsh Basin is described. Turbidite mudstones show higher concentrations of Fe2O3, MgO, TiO2, MnO, LOI, Zn and Zr than laminated hemipelagites. This is consistent with the observed higher concentrations of chlorite and Ti-bearing minerals in turbidite mudstones. Laminated hemipelagites show higher values of REEs (Ce and La), concentrated within authigenic monazites, and Ni, As, Cu and Pb within sulphide minerals (pyrite and galena) reflecting the influence of primary organic carbon levels and anoxic bottom waters on early diagenesis. Deposition of hemipelagites under oxidizing conditions is reflected in lower concentrations of authigenic sulphide mineral hosted elements compared with laminated hemipelagic lithologies. There is a distinct geochemical difference between mudstones of easterly and southerly provenance in the Southern Welsh Basin. This is shown for both turbidites and hemipelagites. The differences are due to the increased input of illite and the chemical elements associated with this mineral (K2O, A12O3, Rb and Ba). Turbidite mudstones sourced from the south show increased levels of heavy minerals, especially those associated with Ti-rich minerals. There is also an increase in elements associated with detrital monazites: Th and Y. The hemipelagites show higher values of REE and chalcophile elements consistent with their more reduced nature.

A pilot study has demonstrated that heavy mineral analysis is a useful guide to the provenance of Silurian turbidites in the Southern Welsh Basin. The results confirm the sedimentological evidence for two distinct source areas of coarse clastic detritus, one lying to the south and the other to the east. They also provide mineralogical criteria by which the two source areas may be distinguished. The southern area provided material with relatively low mineral diversity, and is characteristic in having low rutile/zircon ratios, whereas the eastern source provided more diverse assemblages, generally with high rutile/zircon ratios. The southern source shows variations in terms of apatite/tourmaline ratio, with the older Aberystwyth Grits Group tending to contain relatively low apatite compared with the younger Cwmystwyth Grits Group (Rhuddnant and Pysgotwr Grits formations). There is evidence for polycyclic material and volcanic detritus in both southerly and easterly derived samples; however, easterly-sourced sandstones apparently tapped a more lithologically-diverse terrain.

Major, trace and REE geochemistry, together with Nd isotope determinations, provide new insights into the provenance of seven pebbles of igneous origin from an early Silurian facies of the Caban Conglomerate Formation from central Wales. The geochemical composition of the pebbles supports formation in a subduction related environment on an active continental margin. Biotite whole-rock Rb-Sr systematics constrain the age of a granite pebble to 650±38 Ma. The pebbles provide discrete examples of Avalonian basement which contributed to the isotope composition of sedimentary rocks in the Welsh Basin and one granite pebble provides a rare example from the Welsh Basin of an igneous rock with a Palaeoproterozoic depleted mantle model age.

Preliminary results are reported of geochemical and mineralogical studies on the Nod Glas sediments of Caradoc age (clingani-linearis biozones) in Wales. Results are based on sampling at three localities in North Wales, together with a coeval section in South Wales. Data have been obtained for 21 elements by ICPAES, and for organic C, S and ignition loss. XRD analysis has provided semi-quantitative data on abundances of muscovite 2M1, quartz, albite and chlorite. Mean values of K2O, organic C, S, Cu, Zr and Ba are higher in the Nod Glas than in adjacent strata, while Fe203, MnO, MgO, CaO and P205 are lower. Analogy with the chemical composition of modern sediments reinforces the interpretation of the Nod Glas as being deposited under dysaerobic to anaerobic bottom conditions. There is considerable variation in composition between different Nod Glas sections. Analysis of mineral/chemical relationships shows some consistencies: for example, chlorite shows significant positive correlations with the heavier transition elements Mn to Zn, as well as with Li and Mg, presumably due to enrichment by adsorption of these elements onto subsequently recrystallized smectites. Other relationships are less consistent: organic C is correlated with muscovite (where it is probably held in interlayer sites as a relic from a smectite precursor) and sometimes also with albite. Inconsistencies between the sections in mineral/element interrelations may be due to diagenetic/metamorphic changes.

The Aberystwyth Grits Group was the first in a series of southerly-supplied sandstone-rich turbidite systems that invaded the Welsh Basin during the Telychian Stage (late Llandovery; Silurian). Structural and stratigraphical evidence indicates that deposition of the sand-dominated parts of the system was largely restricted to the east by a zone of syndepositional faulting, now marked by a major vergence divide. Downfaulting and reverse drag along the fault hangingwall created a bathymetric low, which focused deposition of high-density, sand-carrying turbidite flows and flow components, allowing substantial thicknesses of sediment to accumulate. In contrast, low-density, mud-rich turbidites were deposited over a wider area, enhancing the topographic relief generated by uplift above the fault footwall, to form a feature which restricted the spread of the coeval easterly-supplied turbidites of the Devil's Bridge Formation.

Since 1976 the Lower Silurian Grogal Sandstones of the Welsh Basin have been interpreted as contourites. Here we show that they are in fact fine-grained turbidites, frequently with pale-coloured oxidized top layers which enable distinction of individual event deposits. As reported previously, palaeocurrent directions derived from ripple cross-lamination are typically at a high angle, often close to perpendicular, to those measured from sole structures. The favoured explanation is that ripples migrated under transverse internal waves generated at an intrabasinal slope to the east. Evidence for the lateral confinement of the overlying Aberystwyth Grits by such a slope provides support for this explanation.

During early Ordovician times volcanic and high-level intrusive activity occurred at numerous centres across North Pembrokeshire. Previous work suggested a geochemical transition in this activity from calcalkaline through to tholeiitic with time. However, new data indicate more extensive calc-alkaline magmatism and that both magma types were coeval. The origin of the calcalkaline magmas remains equivocal, but the tholeiitic magmas appear to have been derived from a source similar to N-type MORB, variably modified by supra-subduction zone fluids, combined with some fractionation during ascent. These data are consistent with emplacement in a supra-subduction zone marginal basin.

The Bala Lineament is a major NE-SW-striking fault zone that crosses the Lower Palaeozoic Welsh Basin. The southwest segment of it, the Tal-y-llyn Fault, mostly lies within a tract of Ordovician mudstones with few marker bands. Consequently, post-Caledonian (early Devonian) displacements are poorly understood. However, there is a close link between the distribution of kink bands and the fault zone. The kink bands provide information about the contemporary stress conditions and, in combination with slickensided fractures, give qualitative information about the various fault displacements. Matching of major folds across the fault suggests approximately 3–4 km of dextral strike-slip, probably of Lower Carboniferous age. A younger episode of normal faulting, perhaps related to Mesozoic extension, was accompanied by kink bands with more brittle characteristics.

We have conducted a seismic reflection test over a short profile on the granite of the Skye Tertiary central intrusive complex. From previous gravity modelling work it had been inferred that the granite is approximately 1.5 km thick and overlies basic rocks. The seismic data indicate that the granite is at least 2 km thick at the test location. Reflection events of alternating polarity between depths of 2.1 and 2.4 km suggest that basic and acidic sheets are interlayered at the base of the granitic mass.