During Ediacaran to earliest Cambrian times, the Cadomian Orogen was formed on the periphery of the Gondwana supercontinent. The orogenic belt was structured in the geotectonic style of the recent western Pacific region. Cadomian arcs and marginal basins aged at c. 570-538 Ma were linked to an intense recycling (remelting) of crustal units of the West African and the Sub-Sahara cratons. The existence of an Upper Ediacaran glacial period at c. 566-560 Ma places the origin of the Cadomian orogen in high latitudes of the southern hemisphere. Due detrital zircon populations from Cambrian strata the Cadomian orogen shared a part of its geotectonic history with East Avalonia. Because of the split-off of Avalonia from Gondwana mainland the Rheic ocean became opened. Provenance studies point to a docking of East Avalonia onto southern Baltica at c. 430 Ma and to a closure of the Rheic Ocean at c. 430-420 Ma. In the aftermath, the re-opening of a narrow Rhenish Seaway happened in mid-Devonian time. Deposits formed on the Rheno-Hercynian margin display sedimentary supply from southern Baltica, while most East Avalonian sources were buried and not available for erosion. Siliciclastic shelf deposits of Saxo-Thuringia were derived from Cadomia and its West African hinterland. As a result of the closure of the Rhenish Seaway the old suture of the Rheic Ocean was overprinted. Pangea´s internal suture is complex and became formed by closure of two oceanic basins and thus, forms a “cryptic” structure.