Saxothuringian Zone
Hercynian orogeny in Europe.[1]
The Saxothuringian Zone, Saxo-Thuringian zonestrata, the zone is not everywhere visible at the surface. Places where it crops out are the northern Bohemian Massif, the Spessart, the Odenwald, the northern parts of the Black Forest and Vosges and the southern part of the Taunus. West of the Vosges terranes on both sides of the English Channel are also seen as part of the zone, for example the Lizard complex in Cornwall or the Léon Zone of the Armorican Massif (Brittany).
Location
In central Europe the Saxothuringian Zone is situated between the
strike-slip fault, the Bray Fault
.
The Saxothuringian Zone is in some places transected by
Saar-Nahe Basin in western Germany
are examples of such structures.
Geology
The Saxothuringian Zone consists of early
Visean (330 million years ago).[4] These metasediments form a wide zone north of the city of Dresden in Saxony.[5]
Tectonostratigraphically,
plutons during the Cambrian and Ordovician
(540-420 million years ago).
In some places
eclogite facies). These allochthonous nappes can probably be correlated with the Teplá terrane in the Moldanubian Zone further south.[6]
The Saxothuringian Zone is often also supposed to include the
amphibolite facies). These rocks were intruded by two generations of plutons: Silurian to Early Devonian (440-400 million years old) granitoids and middle Carboniferous (Hercynian, 340-325 million years old) granites.[7]
See also
Notes
- ^ Map is based on Franke (1992, 2000), Matte (2001), von Raumer et al. (2003) and Walter (2003)
- ISBN 978-3-7301-0522-1.
- ^ The subdivision of the central European Hercynian orogen in zones was first made by Kossmat (1927)
- ^ Kroner et al. (2007); Franke (2000)
- ^ For an overview see for example Linnemann (1995)
- ^ Matte et al. (1990)
- ^ Oncken (1997); Franke (2000)
Bibliography
- Franke, W.; 1992: Phanerozoic structures and events in central Europe, in: Blundell, D.J.; Freeman, R. & Mueller, S. (eds.): A Continent Revealed - The European Geotraverse, 297 pp., Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-42948-X, pp. 164–179.
- Franke, W.; 2000: The mid-European segment of the Variscides: tectonostratigraphic units, terrane boundaries and plate tectonic evolution, in: Franke, W.; Haak, V.; Oncken, O. & Tanner, D. (eds.); Orogenic Processes, Quantification and Modelling in the Variscan Belt, Geological Society of London, Special Publications 179, pp. 35–61.
- Kossmat, F.; 1927: Gliederung des varistischen Gebirgsbaues, Abhandlungen des Sächsischen Geologischen Landesamtes 1, pp. 1–39.
- Kroner, U.; Hahn, T.; Romer, R.L. & Linnemann, U.; 2007: The Variscan orogeny in the Saxo-Thuringian zone - heterogeneous overprint of Cadomian/Paleozoic Peri-Gondwana crust, in: Linnemann, U.; Nance, R.D.; Kraft, P. & Zulauf, G. (eds.): The evolution of the Rheic Ocean: from Avalonian-Cadomian active margin to Alleghenian-Variscan collision, Geological Society of America Special Paper 423 pp. 153–172.
- Linnemann, U.-G.; 1995: The Neoproterozoic terranes of Saxony (Germany), Precambrian Research 73, pp. 235–250.
- Matte, P.; 2001: The Variscan collage and orogeny (480±290 Ma) and the tectonic definition of the Armorica microplate: a review, Terra Nova 13, 122-128.
- Matte, P.; Maluski, H.; Rajlich, P. & Franke, W.; 1990: Terrane boundaries in the Bohemian Massif: Result of large-scale Variscan shearing, Tectonophysics 177, pp. 151–170.
- Oncken, O.; 1997: Transformation of a magmatic arc and an orogenic root during oblique collision and its consequences for the evolution of the European Variscides (Mid-German Crystalline Rise), Geologische Rundschau 86, pp. 2–20.
- Raumer, J.F. von; Stampfli, G.M. & Bussy, F.; 2003: Gondwana-derived microcontinents — the constituents of the Variscan and Alpine collisional orogens, Tectonophysics 365, pp. 7–22.
- Linnemann, Ulf; & Romer, Rolf; 2010: Pre-Mesozoic Geology of Saxo-Thuringia 488 p. ISBN 978-3-510-65259-4
- Walter, R.; 2003: Erdgeschichte – Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane, 325 pp., Walter de Gruyter, Berlin (5e druk), ISBN 3-11-017697-1.