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Failed Silurian continental rifting at the NW margin of Gondwana: evidence from basaltic volcanism of the Prague Basin (Teplá–Barrandian Unit, Bohemian Massif)

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Abstract

The Silurian volcanic rocks of the Prague Basin represent within-plate, transitional alkali to tholeiitic basalts, which erupted in a continental rift setting through the thick Cadomian crust of the Teplá–Barrandian Unit (Bohemian Massif). Despite the variable, often intense alteration resulting in post-magmatic replacement of the basalt mass due to carbonatization, the geochemical signatures of Silurian basalts are still sufficiently preserved to constrain primary magmatic processes and geotectonic setting. The studied interval of Silurian volcanic activity ranges from Wenlock (Homerian, ~431 Ma) to late Ludlow (Gorstian, ~425 Ma) with a distinct peak at the Wenlock/Ludlow boundary (~428 Ma). Trace-element characteristics unambiguously indicate partial melting of a garnet peridotite mantle source. Wenlock basalts are similar to alkaline OIB with depleted radiogenic Nd signature compared to Ludlow basalts, which are rather tholeiitic, EMORB-like with enriched radiogenic Nd signature. The correlation of petrogenetically significant trace-element ratios with Nd isotopic compositions points to a mixing of partial melts of an isotopically heterogeneous, possibly two-component mantle source during the Wenlock–Ludlow melting. Lava eruptions were accompanied by intrusions of doleritic basalt and meimechite sills. The latter represent olivine-rich cumulates of basaltic magmas of probably predominantly Ludlow age. Meimechites with dolerites and, to a lesser extent, some lavas were subject to alteration due to wall-rock–fluid interaction. The trigger for the Wenlock-to-Ludlow (431–425 Ma) extension and related volcanism in the Prague Basin is related to far-field forces, namely slab-pull regime due to progressive closure of the Iapetus Ocean. The main stage of the Baltica–Laurentia collision then caused the Prague Basin rift failure at ca. 425 Ma that has never reached an oceanic stage.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Petr Štorch and Štěpán Manda for showing us some of the outcrops and providing biostratigraphic control on underlying and overlying strata. We also thank Milan Fišera for petrographic consultations on thin sections, Jitka Míková and Lenka Vondrovicová for Nd isotope sample decompositions, Vojtěch Erban and Jakub Trubač for Nd isotope analyses and help in field, Jana Danišová for sample pulverization in agate mill, and Věra Zoulková and Rosina Kašičková for whole-rock analyses. The senior author thanks Marek Awdankiewicz and Axel Renno for helpful reviews of her dissertation thesis (Silurian and Devonian volcanism in the Prague Basin). Listed analytical works were financed by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (GACR) through Grant no. P210/10/2351 (to Petr Pruner). Time capacity for manuscript completion was enabled by the Czech Geological Survey through Project no. 339900 and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports project LK 11202 (ROPAKO to K. Schulmann). Finally, we gratefully acknowledge anonymous reviewers for their very constructive reviews, which helped to improve the original manuscript significantly.

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    Zuzana Tasáryová, Vojtěch Janoušek & Jiří Frýda

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3, 4, 5, 6, and Figs. 7, 8.

Table 3 List of samples with coordinates and graptolite biostratigraphic zones of sedimentary strata underlying lavas
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Table 4 Omitted 24 whole-rock major- and trace-element analyses (wt% and ppm, respectively) for basalt samples with CO2 > 6 wt%
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Table 5 Results of non-parametric rank-order Spearman’s and Kendall’s tests (correlation coefficients and p values of their significance) applied to 54 samples (non-altered as well as altered basalts)
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Table 6 Results of the CIPW norm calculations (Hutchison 1975)
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Fig. 8
figure 8

Whole data set. a Geotectonic triangular plot Th–Hf/3–Ta (ppm), proposed by Wood (1980). b Zr/4 − 2 × Nb–Y (ppm) diagram of Meschede (1986). c Discrimination diagram for basalts, as proposed by Shervais (1982), based on variability of the Ti/V ratio under different oxygen fugacity. ARC Arc Tholeiites, OFB Ocean Floor Basalts. d Binary plot Zr vs. Ti (ppm) after Pearce (1982). e Geotectonic diagram Nb/Yb vs. Th/Yb (Pearce 2008). The ‘MORB-OIB array’ is formed by average NMORB, EMORB, and OIB compositions from Sun and McDonough (1989). Plotted for reference are average compositions of Upper Continental Crust (UCC) and Lower Continental Crust (LCC) taken from Taylor and McLennan (1995). f Binary plot Nb/Yb vs. TiO2/Yb indicating mantle temperature and thickness of the conductive lithosphere (Pearce 2008). Plotted for reference are average compositions of NMORB, EMORB, and OIB taken from Sun and McDonough (1989)

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Tasáryová, Z., Janoušek, V. & Frýda, J. Failed Silurian continental rifting at the NW margin of Gondwana: evidence from basaltic volcanism of the Prague Basin (Teplá–Barrandian Unit, Bohemian Massif). Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 107, 1231–1266 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-017-1530-5

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