Rockall part of the deeply eroded Rockall Igneous Centre that was formed as part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province, approximately 55 million years ago, when the ancient continent of Laurasia was split apart by plate tectonics. Greenland and Europe separated and the northeast Atlantic Ocean was formed between them, eventually leaving Rockall as an isolated islet. The RV "Celtic Explorer" surveyed the Rockall Bank in 2003. The Irish Light Vessel "Granuaile" (the same name as the steamer on the RIA 1896 botany survey) was chartered by the Geological Survey of Ireland, on behalf of the Department of Communications, Marine and
Gulf Trough of roughly , material born of erosion began building up more rapidly in the Gulf Trough, due to the uplifting of the Appalachian Mountains to the north, which provided the primary source of siliciclastic material transported south via rivers and streams. By the Early Miocene, the trough was filled, and materials continued to move southward covering and replacing the carbonate-depositing marine environment with sands, silts, and clays; these sediments created the peninsula on which terrestrial flora and fauna could become established. Gulf Trough The Gulf Trough, also known as the Suwanee Straits, is an ancient geologic feature of Florida present