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The volcano-sedimentary evolution of a post-Variscan intramontane basin in the Swiss Alps (Glarus Verrucano) as revealed by zircon U–Pb age dating and Hf isotope geochemistry

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Abstract

The Late Palaeozoic Glarus Verrucano basin (GVB, Glarus Alps, eastern Switzerland) formed as an intramontane graben in the aftermath of the Variscan orogeny. Its fill, the Glarus Verrucano, consists of immature alluvial fan and playa lake deposits with intercalated bimodal volcanics (basalts and rhyolites). Despite its importance for local and regional geology, no modern sedimentologic or stratigraphic studies on the GVB exist. By means of sedimentologic and geochronologic studies, we reconstruct the volcano-sedimentary evolution of the GVB: it developed at the Carboniferous/Permian boundary and experienced a first (bimodal) volcanic phase around 285 Ma. For the same time, indications for temporarily humid climate in the otherwise rather arid Early Permian are demonstrated (e.g. pyrite-bearing sandstones). During the Middle and Early Late Permian, increasing aridity is indicated by playa deposits, fanglomerates and subaerial ignimbrites, which mark a second (silicic) volcanic phase at 268 Ma. The detrital zircon age spectra are dominated by Late Variscan ages and thus demonstrate that older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks once forming the Variscan nappe edifice were already mostly eroded at that time. Finally, some larger-scale speculations are given which could indicate a causal connection between the widespread tectono-magmatic Mid-Permian Episode and the local development of the Glarus Verrucano basin.

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Acknowledgments

We thank A. Beltrán-Triviño for his constant advice in the lab and for numerous discussions. I. Peytcheva, M. Wälle, and S. Koch were of great help while acquiring the U–Pb and the Hf data. The critical but nevertheless benevolent reviews by A. Pfiffner and A. Wetzel helped greatly to improve an early version of this article. Finally, we want to thank P. Brack for some useful advice and T. Blattmann for his enthusiastic help in the field.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Geological Institute, ETH Zentrum, Sonneggstrasse 5, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Dominik Letsch, Wilfried Winkler & Albrecht von Quadt

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zentrum, Clausiusstrasse 25, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Daniela Gallhofer

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  1. Dominik Letsch
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Letsch, D., Winkler, W., von Quadt, A. et al. The volcano-sedimentary evolution of a post-Variscan intramontane basin in the Swiss Alps (Glarus Verrucano) as revealed by zircon U–Pb age dating and Hf isotope geochemistry. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 104, 123–145 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1055-0

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