Palaeozoic Geography and Palaeomagnetism of the Central European Variscan and Alpine Fold Belts Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Fakultät für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München vorgelegt von Dipl.-Geol. Michael Rupert Schätz am 17. Mai 2004 Promoter: PD Dr. Jennifer Tait Co-Promoter: Prof. Dr. Valerian Bachtadse Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 13. Juli 2004 Contents Glossary ........................................................................................................................... 3 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 5 Zusammenfassung ................................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 1 Introduction.................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Palaeomagnetism ................................................................................................... 10 1.2 General geodynamic and tectonic framework of Central Europe.................... 11 1.3 Aim of this work.............................................................................................. 21 1.4 Geological setting of the selected sampling areas ........................................... 24 Chapter 2 Sampling and methods ................................................................................. 36 2.1 Sampling and Laboratory procedure................................................................ 36 Appendix to Chapter 2 (photographs of several sampling locations) ...................... 40 Chapter 3 Palaeozoic Palaeomagnetic results from the Saxo-Thuringian ............ 45 3.1 The early Palaeozoic break-up of northern Gondwana, new palaeomagnetic data from the Saxothuringian Basin, Franconian Forest, Germany............................................................................................... 45 3.2 Silurian palaeogeography of the Variscan fold belt: palaeomagnetic constraints for the Armorican Terrane Assemblage from the Saxothuringian basin .................................................... 53 1 CONTENTS 2 Chapter 4 Palaeozoic Palaeomagnetic results of the Alpine realm......................... 62 4.1 Palaeozoic geography of the Alpine realm, new palaeomagnetic data from the Northern Greywacke Zone, Eastern Alps.................................. 62 4.2 Palaeomagnetic results from Lower Devonian sediments of the Southern Alps and their palaeogeographic implications ................................. 76 Chapter 5 Palaeozoic Palaeomagnetic results of the Malopolska Block............... 88 5.1 Palaeomagnetism of Ordovician carbonate rocks from Malopolska Massif, Holy Cross Mountains, SE Poland – Magnetostratigraphy and Tectonic Implications ............................................. 88 Chapter 6 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 101 References ................................................................................................................. 109 Danksagung......................................................................................................................... 120 Curriculum Vitae............................................................................................................... 122 Glossary Abbreviations AF.....................................................................................................................................alternating field AM ...............................................................................................................................Armorican Massif AMS..............................................................................................anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility APWP ...........................................................................................................apparent polar wander path ATA ......................................................................................................Armorican Terrane Assemblage CAI.....................................................................................................conodont colour alteration indices CHRM......................................................................................... characteristic remanent magnetisation CT......................................................................................................................................Catalan terrane EEP..................................................................................................................... East European Platform HCF................................................................................................................................Holy Cross Fault HCM..................................................................................................................... Holy Cross Mountains IM.......................................................................................................................................Iberian Massif IRM ..................................................................................................isothermal remanent magnetisation MD ........................................................................................................................................multidomain MGCR.......................................................................................................Mid-German Crystalline Rise MORB-type .....................................................................................................mid-oceanic ridge basalts NBT.......................................................................................................................Noric-Bosnian terrane NRM.......................................................................................................natural remanent magnetisation PSD ........................................................................................................................pseudo single domain SIRM...............................................................................saturation isothermal remanent magnetisation STB ...................................................................................................................... Saxo-Thuringian basin TB..................................................................................................................................Tepla-Barrandian TESZ ..........................................................................................................Trans-European Suture Zone VFB.............................................................................................................................. Variscan fold belt Symbols α95 [°]..............................................radius of the 95% confidence circle of a palaeomagnetic direction Dec/Inc [°/°]................................................................................... declination/inclination of site means dm/dp [°/°] .................... 95 % confidence limits of the latitude/longitude of a magnetic pole position Do..............................................................................................................................observed declination Dr ............................................................................................................................. reference declination So .......................................................................................................................................observed strike 3 GLOSSARY 4 Sr....................................................................................................................................... reference strike k...................................................precision parameter for the dispersion of palaeomagnetic directions PJ................................................................................................................................... anisotropy degree R ............................................................................................................................ correlation coefficient T.......................................................................................................................................shape parameter kmax/kint/kmin ............................................................................... principal susceptibility anisotropy axes N.................................................................................................................number of samples measured n............................................................................. number of samples used in calculation of site mean Lat/Long [°/°] ................................................................................................pole latitude and longitude TC [°C]..........................................................................................................................Curie-temperature Tb[°C]......................................................................................................................blocking temperature Tub[°C]................................................................................................................ unblocking temperature Hc[T]................................................................................................................................... coercive force Hcr[T].....................................................................................................................