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A Late Tournaisian synmetamorphic folding and thrusting event in the eastern Variscan foreland: 40Ar/39Ar evidence from the phyllites of the Wolsztyn–Leszno High, western Poland

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Abstract

A Variscan foreland in western Poland comprises two NW-trending basement highs, which are concealed under Carboniferous through Triassic strata of the Fore-Sudetic Monocline (FSM). Both highs consist of multiply deformed quartz-sericite ± albite ± chlorite phyllites of unknown protolith age. 40Ar/39Ar laser probe dating of white micas in up to 0.5-mm-thick mica layers, which form the S2 axial-plane foliation in phyllites of the Wolsztyn–Leszno High, yielded an age of 340.1±2.6 Ma for the lower greenschists facies metamorphism and probably also for the F2 folding. This deformation was associated and followed by thrusting, which brought about the basement highs. The latter delivered clasts to overlying late Viséan–early Namurian flysch basin that was mainly sourced from the Saxothuringian Sudetes in which most of the deformation occurred between 345–335 Ma. The FSM basement may represent an independent terrane, referred to as the Wielkopolska terrane, belonging to the Armorican Terrane Assemblage.

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Acknowledgements

The work was performed at the ISTEEM-CNRS in the Laboratoire de Géochronologie, Université Montpellier II run by H. Maluski and P. Monié whose support is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are due to Wolfgang Franke for his comment on the earlier version of the manuscript. The final version benefited from the reviews by Onno Oncken and Gernold Zulauf.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instytut Nauk Geologicznych PAN, Podwale 75, 50-449 Wrocław, Poland

    Andrzej Żelaźniewicz

  2. ISTEEM-CNRS, Laboratoire de Géochronologie, Université Montpellier 2, CC 58, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France

    Dirk Marheine

  3. Instytut Nauk Geologicznych, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, pl. M. Borna 9, 50-204 Wroclaw, Poland

    Teresa Oberc-Dziedzic

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  1. Andrzej Żelaźniewicz
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Correspondence to Andrzej Żelaźniewicz.

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Żelaźniewicz, A., Marheine, D. & Oberc-Dziedzic, T. A Late Tournaisian synmetamorphic folding and thrusting event in the eastern Variscan foreland: 40Ar/39Ar evidence from the phyllites of the Wolsztyn–Leszno High, western Poland. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 92, 185–194 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-002-0306-7

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