Dash for Gas, 21st-Century Style!

Since the price deregulation in natural gas was enacted in the 1990s, there has been roughly one “dash for gas” every decade. These dashes for gas have influenced the globalization of the gas industry while being uniquely North American and European phenomena. The first two involved increasing demands from the power sectors in Europe and the United States which were chasing what appeared to be dwindling supplies. The current dash for gas is fundamentally different and is driven by flush supplies in North America chasing multiple new markets. The nature of the current dash for gas has more potential to induce a globalized market for natural gas than did the previous episodes.

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December 2025 --The Variscan Orogeny in Europe – Understanding Supercontinent Formation

The Variscan orogen formed between 380 and 300 million years ago through several accretionary and collisional cycles, culminating with the construction of the Pangea supercontinent. This process occurred via sequential opening and closure of oceanic basins, synchronous detachment of Gondwana derived continental ribbons, and their outboard amalgamation onto the Laurussia margin. The Variscan orogen is rather unique compared with other orogenic belts on Earth: its overthickened and dominantly magmatic crust in the central belt, surprisingly minor mantle involvement in the magmatic and geodynamic processes, coherent and pulsed magmatism along the collision suture, and its complex accretionary history. Because its final product, Pangea, is the youngest and best-understood supercontinent on Earth, the Variscan orogeny offers clues for understanding the mechanisms of supercontinent formation.