North Gondwana origin for exotic Variscan rocks in the Rhenohercynian zone of Germany
In: Geologische Rundschau. Springer Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg. ISSN 0016-7835; e-ISSN 1432-1149, meer
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| Author keywords |
Rhenohercynian zone; North Gondwana Exotic rocks; Contourites; Accretionary prisms; Variscan orogeny |
| Abstract |
Continental margin sediments of an exotic nature, which have been thrust over the Rhenohercynian zone of Central Germany, occur mainly in olistostromes of Lower Carboniferous age. A stratigraphy compiled from the exotic rocks reflects the wide spectrum of continental shelf and adjacent basinal facies that existed at least from the Early Ordovician to the Early Carboniferous. Facies and faunal relationships are comparable with those in the Palaeozoic of the western Mediterranean region, Saxothuringia (south-east Germany) and the Barrandian area (Czech Republic), which suggests deposition at the northern margin of the Gondwana Palaeozoic supercontinent. Among the exotic rocks, a Middle Devonian to Early Carboniferous facies, referred to as Flinzkalk, contains sediments showing characteristics of contourites. They may have originated from reworked turbidites, formed under a current which flowed parallel to the North Gondwana margin, similar to the Gulf Stream flowing along eastern North America today. |
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