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Rb/Sr geochronology in the Eastern Alps

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Abstract

New Rb/Sr data on mineral and whole rock samples from in and around the south-east corner of the Tauern Window are presented. Pennine orthogeneisses yield an Rb/Sr whole rock age of 279±9 m.y., while orthogneiss samples from the Altkristallin Sheet near Innerkrems, Carinthia, yield an age of 381±30 m.y. by the same technique. The apparent mineral age break across the margins of the Tauern Window is investigated in an area of good structural and petrofabric control. The post-Palaeozoic history of the Eastern Alps is then discussed in the context of the available Rb/Sr data. It is argued that the bulk of the Katschberg Phyllites are of pre-Mesozoic age; that the major overthrusting movements of the Austroalpine Units were completed by 60–65 m.y.; and that the Peri-Adriatic intrusives can be little older than middle Tertiary.

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  1. C. J. Hawkesworth

    Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, The University, LS2 9JT, Leeds, England

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  1. Department of Geology and Mineralogy, Parks Road, Oxford

    C. J. Hawkesworth

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Hawkesworth, C.J. Rb/Sr geochronology in the Eastern Alps. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 54, 225–244 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371007

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