Using these new data and inverse geodynamic modelling, we constrain the evolution in the area since the orogenic collapse of the Caledonides. Exhumation histories are inferred using a uniform stretching model, incorporating variable rates of erosion or deposition, and thermal histories are found by solving the one-dimensional transient conduction-advection heat equation. These thermal histories are used with the observed fission track data to constrain acceptable strain rate histories and exhumation paths.
The results suggest that rifting has been focused mainly in the now offshore regions since ~ 300 Ma, or in minor local areas onshore, not affecting the sampled areas significantly. The present-day high topography is therefore suggested simply to represent remnants of the original Caledonian topography, modified during early rifting and, other than the flexural isostatic response to erosional unloading, we find no need for introducing post-rift related uplift mechanisms.