Recycling of Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic crust recorded in Lower Paleozoic metasandstones of the Northern Gemericum (Western Carpathians, Slovakia): Evidence from detrital zircons

Abstract

U–Pb (SHRIMP) detrital zircon ages from the Early Paleozoic meta-sedimentary rocks of the Northern Gemericum Unit (the Smrečinka Formation) were used to characterize their provenance. The aim was to compare and reconcile new analyses with previously published data. The detrital zircon age spectrum demonstrates two prominent populations, the first, Late Neoproterozoic (545–640 Ma) and the second, Paleoproterozoic (1.8–2.1 Ga), with a minor Archean population (2.5–3.4 Ga). The documented zircon ages reflect derivation of the studied metasedimentary rocks from the Cadomian arc, which was located along the West African Craton. The acquired data supports close relations of the Northern Gemericum basement with the Armorican terranes during Neoproterozoic and Ordovician times and also a close palinspastic relation with the other crystalline basements of the Central Western Carpathians. In comparison, the detrital zircons from the Southern Gemericum basement and its Permian envelope indicate derivation from the Pan-African Belt–Saharan Metacraton provenance.

Exhumation history of the Variscan suture: Constrains on the detrital zircon geochronology from Carboniferous–Permian sandstones (Northern Gemericum; Western Carpathians)

“…In general, the Precambrian detrital zircon population from the NGU Carboniferous-Permian sedimentary rocks are concordant with the Smrečinka Fm. detrital zircon population, from the basal part of the Rakovec Group, which is a part of the NGU Variscan basement (Vozárová et al 2019). This dispersal of detrital zircon ages suggests a linkage with Armorican terranes, which are characterized by derivation from the Cadomian arc that resides on the periphery of the West African Craton of North Gondwana.…”