Variscan orogeny rifted off the north Gondwana margin in early Ordovician. By the end of the Silurian and in Early Devonian times, Baltica and Laurentia drifted towards each other, closing the Iapetus Ocean between them. They collided in the Caledonian orogeny and formed the Caledonide mountains of North America, Greenland, the British Isles and Norway. Seafloor spreading to the south of Avalonia pushed the latter into north Laurentia and thrust up the northern Appalachian Mountains in the acadian phase of the Caledonian orogeny. Contemporaneously the Tornquist Sea between Avalonia and Baltica was entirely closed. Thus Avalonia formed the southern coast of the
Cadomian Orogeny typical structure. After the orogeny, continental sediments were washed on top of the deformed Cadomian rocks. They include conglomerate and sandstone in Brittany, Jersey and Alderney. The Cap Frehel red beds are dated at . These post orogeny deposits were dumped from braided stream channels. The basins for these sediments followed the structural grain in the Cadomian Orogeny. There are two overall models for the formation of the Cadomian Orogeny. Firstly by Jean-Pierre Brun & P. Bale that compression to the south west of a volcanic arc and back arc basin onto the edge of the continent at the St