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
Labrador Trough Labrador Trough The Labrador Trough or the New Quebec Orogen is a long and wide geologic belt in Canada, extending south-southeast from Ungava Bay through Quebec and Labrador. The trough is a linear belt of sedimentary and volcanic rocks which developed in an Early Proterozoic rift basin. To the west is the Archean Superior Craton. To the east are the rocks of the Archean Rae Craton. The sedimentary rocks and volcanics of the Labrador Trough were intensely deformed and subjected to high grade metamorphism along with the Churchill terrain during the Trans-Hudson orogeny. It is a northeast extension of the