Regional Tectonic Setting and Geological Structure of the Rhenish Massif

This chapter contains an outline of the geological history of the Rhenish Massif and the development of its margins and surrounding areas. Section 2.2 gives some main aspects of the development of the Variscan geosyncline and orogeny and a short description of the pre-Variscan geological history of this region. Since the end of the Variscan orogeny many different epeirogenetic processes have occurred here (Sect. 2.3). During these long geological times uplift and subsidence changed in the different parts of the Massif and in the surrounding areas.