Lyell Collection
Journal of the Geological Society
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kryza, R.
Right arrow Articles by Presnyakov, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 2007; v. 164; issue.6; p. 1207-1215;
DOI: 10.1144/0016-76492006-137
© 2007 Geological Society of London

Original Article

Early Palaeozoic initial-rift volcanism in the Central European Variscides (the Kaczawa Mountains, Sudetes, SW Poland): evidence from SIMS dating of zircons

R. Kryza1, J.A. Zalasiewicz2, S. Mazur1, P. Aleksandrowski1, S. Sergeev3 & S. Presnyakov3

1 1Wroclaw University, Institute of Geological Sciences, ul. Cybulskiego 30, 50-205 Wroclaw, Poland (e-mail: rkryza{at}ing.uni.wroc.pl)
2 2University of Leicester, Department of Geology, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
3 3Centre of Isotopic Research, A. P. Karpinsky All Russian Geological Research Institute (VSEGEI), 74 Sredny Pr, St. Petersburg, 199 106, Russia

Early Palaeozoic volcanic suites are widespread throughout the Variscan Belt, and have commonly been ascribed to incipient rifting along the northern periphery of Gondwana in Cambrian to Ordovician times. Their distribution across Europe defines the present-day extent of Gondwana-derived terranes and constrains the timing of their separation from the Gondwanan margin. The Kaczawa Mountains in the West Sudetes, at the eastern termination of the Variscan Belt, include bimodal rift-related rocks, but their protolith age and, hence, their significance have been highly uncertain. We have applied secondary ionization mass spectrometry zircon geochronology to a metarhyodacite and a metatrachyte from this suite, yielding ages of 502.4 ± 2.6 Ma and 485.7 ± 1.6 Ma, respectively. This constrains the initial rift magmatism to c. 500–485 Ma in this part of the European Variscides. The rift-related Early Palaeozoic volcanism thus seems to have been broadly synchronous throughout the peri-Gondwanan terranes of Europe.