The Paleozoic Variscan orogeny was a large-scale collisional event involving amalgamation of multiple continents and micro-continents. Existing data, suggests oroclinal buckling of an originally near-linear convergent margin during the last stages of Variscan deformation in the late Paleozoic. Closure of the Rheic Ocean resulted in E–W shortening (present-day coordinates) in the Carboniferous, producing a near linear N–S trending, east-verging belt. Subsequent N–S shortening near the Carb-Permian boundary resulted in oroclinal buckling. This late-stage orogenic event remains an enigmatic part of final Pangea amalgamation.