Deducing the ancestry of terranes: SHRIMP evidence for South America–derived Gondwana fragments in central Europe

Research Article| November 01, 2000 Deducing the ancestry of terranes: SHRIMP evidence for South America–derived Gondwana fragments in central Europe Gertrude Friedl; Gertrude Friedl 1Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie, Universität Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Fritz Finger; Fritz Finger 2Institut für Mineralogie, Universität Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Neal J. McNaughton; Neal J. McNaughton 3Centre for Strategic Mineral Deposits, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Western Australia, Nedlands 6907, Australia Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Ian R. Fletcher Ian R. Fletcher 3Centre for Strategic Mineral Deposits, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Western Australia, Nedlands 6907, Australia Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2000) 28 (11): 1035–1038. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<1035:DTAOTS>2.0.CO;2 Article history received: 17 May 2000 rev-recd: 17 Aug 2000 accepted: 25 Aug 2000 first online: 02 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Gertrude Friedl, Fritz Finger, Neal J. McNaughton, Ian R. Fletcher; Deducing the ancestry of terranes: SHRIMP evidence for South America–derived Gondwana fragments in central Europe. Geology 2000;; 28 (11): 1035–1038. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<1035:DTAOTS>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract We present here an example of how the sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) zircon dating method can provide a terrane-specific geochronological fingerprint for a rock and thus help to reveal major tectonic boundaries within orogens. This method, applied to inherited zircons in a ca. 580 Ma metagranitoid rock from the eastern Bohemian Massif, has provided, for the first time in the central European Variscan basement, unequivocal evidence for Mesoproterozoic and late Paleoproterozoic geologic events ca. 1.2 Ga, 1.5 Ga, and 1.65–1.8 Ga. The recognition of such zircon ages has important consequences because it implies that parts of the Precambrian section of Variscan central Europe were originally derived from a Grenvillian cratonic province, as opposed to the common assumption of an African connection. A comparison with previously published SHRIMP data suggests, however, that these Mesoproterozoic and late Paleoproterozoic zircon ages may be restricted to the Moravo-Silesian unit in the eastern Variscides, whereas the Saxothuringian and Moldanubian zones appear to contain a typical north African (i.e., Neoproterozoic plus Eburnian) inherited-zircon age spectrum. This finding supports new tectonic concepts, according to which Variscan Europe is composed of a number of completely unrelated terranes with extremely different paleogeographic origins. The Moravo-Silesian unit can be best interpreted as a peri-Gondwana terrane, which was situated in the realm of the Amazonian cratonic province by the late Precambrian, comparable to the Avalonian terranes of North America and the United Kingdom. You do not currently have access to this article.