The Stavelot-Venn Massif (Ardenne, Belgium), a rift shoulder basin ripped off the West African craton: Cartography, stratigraphy, sedimentology, new U-Pb on zircon ages, geochemistry and Nd isotopes evidence

The Stavelot-Venn Massif (SVM) is the major Cambrian-Ordovician inlier of the Ardenne Allochthon (Southern Belgium). The SVM belongs to the Avalonian microcontinent and was affected by the Caledonian and Variscan orogenies. The Ardenne Allochthon constitutes the northwestern part of the Rheno-Hercynian domain, just south of the Variscan northern front. By contrast, the comparable Avalonian Cambro-Silurian Brabant Massif (northern Belgium) is located just to the north of this front and is not affected by the Variscan orogeny.