The Central European Variscides

This book focuses on the U-Pb ages and Lu-Hf model ages of zircon in a plate tectonics context, providing a geotectonic history of Gondwanan Europe. It is the first comprehensive overview of the application of U-Pb LA-ICP-MS ages and Lu-Hf isotopes of magmatic and detrital zircon for plate tectonic reconstructions and orogenic processes. In this context, zircon provinces are established as the ultimate tool for paleogeographic and plate tectonics reconstructions, and for provenance studies of basin fillings, the latter of which offer valuable archives of orogenic processes through space and time. The primary focus is on zircon data on the Cadomian and Avalonian basement and its Paleozoic overstep sequence in the Alleghenian-Variscan mobile belt. In addition, it examines data from interacting cratons such as Baltica, West Africa, the sub-Sahara region, Arabia, and Laurentia. Lastly, the book provides datasets from parts of the Variscan orogenic belt in Southern and Southeastern Europe, which are today covered by the alpine chain and have become partly affected by plate tectonics of the Paleo- and Neo-Tethys.