Cadomian terranes, wrench faulting and thrusting in the central Europe Variscides: geophysical and geological evidence

Sixty five per cent of the Paleozoic basement of western and central Europe is hidden by a sedimentary cover and/or sea. This work aims to remove that blanket to detect new structures which could used to build a more comprehensive model of the Variscan orogeny. It is based on the interpretation of various forms of data: (a) published gravity maps corrected for the effects of the crust–mantle boundary topography and light sedimentary basins; (b) aeromagnetic maps; (c) measurements of densities; and (d) induced and remanent magnetizations on rocks from Paleozoic outcrops of the upper Rhenish area. From the northern Bohemian Massif to the eastern Paris Basin, the Saxothuringian is characterized by a 500?km long belt of gravity highs, the most important being the Kraichgau high. Most of the corresponding heavy bodies are buried under a post-early Viséan cover. They are interpreted as relics of Late Proterozoic terranes overlain by an Early to Middle Paleozoic sequence, equivalent to the Bohemian terrane in the Bohemian Massif. The most probable continuation of these dense Bohemian terranes toward the west is the Southern Channel–Northern Brittany Cadomian terrane. The gravity lows are correlated with Variscan granites and pre- and early Variscan metagranites. Gravity and magnetic maps demonstrate large-scale displacement in Devonian–Early Carboniferous times along the parallel and equidistant, NW–SE striking, Vistula, Elbe, Bavarian, Bray and South Armorican dextral wrench faults. In the Vosges–Schwarzwald and Central Massif the faults continue with the east–west striking Lalaye-Lubine–Baden-Baden and Marche faults and with south vergent thrusts. The Bavarian faults shift the Kraichgau terrane by 150?km relative to the Bohemian terrane, whereas the offset of the Northern Brittany Cadomian relative to the Northern Vosges–Kraichgau terranes is estimated at 400?km along the Bray fault. Sinistral wrench faults are the NE–SW striking Sillon Houiller, Rheingraben, Rodl, Vitis and Diendorf faults. The southern Vosges–Schwarzwald Devonian–Dinantian basin is interpreted as a pull-apart basin at the south-easterly extremity of the Bray fault. The Bohemian and Kraichgau body form allochthonous terranes which were thrust over the Saxothuringian crust. Thrusting to the north-west was accompanied by back-thrusting and led to the formation of pop-up structures. Contemporaneous dextral and sinistral wrench faulting resulted in transpressive strain during collision. The zonal structure of the Variscides in the sense of Kossmat (1927) is relevant only to the Rhenohercynian Foreland Belt. Kossmat (1927) already spoke of a Moldanubian Region because it displays no real zonal structure. The Saxothuringian Zone was formed by terrane accretion. Their apparent zonal structure is not a pre-collisional feature, but only the result of accretion and collision.