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New data on the Neoproterozoic – Cambrian geotectonic setting of the Teplá-Barrandian volcano-sedimentary successions: geochemistry, U-Pb zircon ages, and provenance (Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic)

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Abstract

The Teplá-Barrandian unit (TBU) of the Bohemian Massif was a part of the Avalonian-Cadomian belt at the northern margin of Gondwana during Neoproterozoic and Early Cambrian times. New detrital zircon ages and geochemical compositions of Late Neoproterozoic siliciclastic sediments confirm a deposition of the volcano-sedimentary successions of the TBU in a back-arc basin. A change in the geotectonic regime from convergence to transtension was completed by the time of the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. The accumulation of around 2,500 m Lower Cambrian continental siliciclastics in a Basin-and-Range-type setting was accompanied by magmatism, which shows within-plate features in a few cases, but is predominantly derived from anatectic melts displaying the inherited island arc signature of their Cadomian source rocks. The geochemistry of clastic sediments suggests a deposition in a rift or strike-slip-related basin, respectively. A marine transgression during Middle Cambrian times indicates markedly thinned crust after the Cadomian orogeny. Upper Cambrian magmatism is represented by 1,500 m of subaerial andesites and rhyolites demonstrating several geochemical characteristics of an intra-plate setting. Zircons from a rhyolite give a U-Pb-SHRIMP age of 499±4 Ma. The Cambrian sedimentary and magmatic succession of the TBU records the beginning of an important rifting event at the northern margin of Gondwana.

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Notes

  1. In this study the stratigraphic timescale after Remane et al. (2000) is used.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” (grants Li 521/14–1 and Li 521/16–1). Allan Kennedy (Curtin University) and Ian Fletcher (UWA) are thanked very much for their assistance during SHRIMP-work in Perth. Special thanks to the team of the Centre for Global Metallogeny for their help during our stay in Perth. The Perth SHRIMP is operated by a university-government consortium with support from the Australian Research Council. This is a contribution to IGCP 453 and IGCP 497.

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Drost, K., Linnemann, U., McNaughton, N. et al. New data on the Neoproterozoic – Cambrian geotectonic setting of the Teplá-Barrandian volcano-sedimentary successions: geochemistry, U-Pb zircon ages, and provenance (Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic). Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 93, 742–757 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-004-0416-5

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