Editing Devonian (section)

=== Closure of the Rheic Ocean ===
The Rheic Ocean, which separated Laurussia from Gondwana, was wide at the start of the Devonian, having formed after the drift of [[Avalonia]] away from Gondwana. It steadily shrunk as the period continued, as the two major continents approached near the [[equator]] in the early stages of the assembly of [[Pangaea]]. The closure of the Rheic Ocean began in the Devonian and continued into the Carboniferous. As the ocean narrowed, endemic marine faunas of Gondwana and Laurussia combined into a single tropical fauna. The history of the western Rheic Ocean is a subject of debate, but there is good evidence that Rheic oceanic crust experienced intense [[subduction]] and [[metamorphism]] under Mexico and Central America.<ref name="Cocks-2016" /><ref name="Golonka-2020" />

The closure of the eastern part of the Rheic Ocean is associated with the assemblage of central and southern Europe. In the early Paleozoic, much of Europe was still attached to Gondwana, including the terranes of [[Iberia]], [[Armorican terrane|Armorica]] (France), [[Palaeo-Adria]] (the western Mediterranean area), [[Bohemia]], [[Franconia]], and [[Saxothuringian Zone|Saxothuringia]]. These continental blocks, collectively known as the Armorican Terrane Assemblage, split away from Gondwana in the Silurian and drifted towards Laurussia through the Devonian. Their collision with Laurussia leads to the beginning of the [[Variscan orogeny|Variscan Orogeny]], a major mountain-building event which would escalate further in the Late Paleozoic. Franconia and Saxothuringia collided with Laurussia near the end of the Early Devonian, pinching out the easternmost Rheic Ocean. The rest of the Armorican terranes followed, and by the end of the Devonian they were fully connected with Laurussia. This sequence of rifting and collision events led to the successive creation and destruction of several small seaways, including the Rheno-Hercynian, Saxo-Thuringian, and Galicia-Moldanubian oceans. Their sediments were eventually compressed and completely buried as Gondwana fully collided with Laurussia in the Carboniferous.<ref name="Cocks-2016" /><ref name="Golonka-2020" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Franke |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Cocks |first2=L. Robin M. |last3=Torsvik |first3=Trond H. |date=2017 |title=The Palaeozoic Variscan oceans revisited |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1342937X17301399 |journal=Gondwana Research |language=en |volume=48 |pages=257–284 |doi=10.1016/j.gr.2017.03.005|bibcode=2017GondR..48..257F |url-access=subscription }}</ref>