Sedimentation, Tectonics, and Paleogeography of the North Atlantic Region

Each of the following pages shows approximately one quarter of the Earth and is centered on North America and the North Atlantic region. Two maps are shown on most pages and can be accessed by clicking the time interval for each below and then scrolling down through the two maps. The top map shows the continental plates and intervening oceans, tectonic elements, and sedimentary facies; the second map shows hypothetical paleogeography based on the tectonic/sedimentary map.

Use the BACK function of your web browser to return from each page back to this page.

UPDATE!! Revised maps!! Additional maps!!

PLEASE NOTE: the maps on this page are relatively old and are presented here at their full resolution. Newer maps are available at

  • Colorado Plateau Geosystems Website

    The general plate data are from Scotese, C. R., 1998. Quicktime Computer Animations, PALEOMAP Project, Department of Geology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas. The paleogeographic, sedimentologic, and tectonic data are compiled from many sources but are especially influenced by the following: Cook and Bally, 1975, Stratigraphic atlas of North and Central America, Princeton Univ Press; Scotese and Glonka, 1992, Paleomap, Univ of Texas at Arlington; Ziegler, 1988, Evolution of the Arctic-North Atlantic and the western Tethys, AAPG Memoir 43.

  • Explanation of symbols
  • Early Cambrian
  • Cambrian
  • Mid Ordovician
  • Late Ordovician
  • Silurian
  • Devonian
  • Late Devonian
  • Mississippian
  • Pennsylvanian
  • Permian
  • Late Triassic
  • Early Jurassic
  • Middle Jurassic
  • Late Jurassic
  • Early Cretaceous
  • Middle Cretaceous
  • Late Cretaceous
  • Paleocene
  • Eocene
  • Oligocene
  • Miocene

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