Abstract
The mid-German crystalline rise has its westernmost exposures at the western margin of the Rhine graben in the southern Pfalz and the northern Alsace. The outcrops are made up of granitoid rocks and minor volcano-sedimentary sequences. Radiometric ages obtained by U/Pb, Pb/Pb, Sm/Nd and Rb/Sr analyses of the igneous rocks from this area range from ∼433 to ∼325 Ma thus covering a time span from the Silurian to the end of the lower Carboniferous. Because the investigated rocks are — according to their chemical composition — largely related to subduction zone environments, the following three geodynamical scenarios are postulated, always taking subduction of oceanic crust beneath the mid-German crystalline rise into account: (a) subduction of the Rheic ocean during the Silurian from the north; (b) subduction of the Rhenohercynian ocean during the late Devonian (∼369 Ma) from the north; (c) subduction of the Saxothuringian ocean during the lower Carboniferous (∼334 Ma) from the south.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Altenberger U, Besch T (1993) The Böllstein Odenwald: evidence for pre- to Early Variscan plate convergence in the Central European Variscides. Geol Rundsch 82:475–488
Altenberger U, Besch T, Mocek B, Zaipeng Y, Yong S (1990) Geochemie und Geodynamik des Böllsteiner Odenwaldes. Mainzer Geowiss Mitt 19:183–200
Bachtadse V, Torsvik TH, Tait JA, Soffel HC (1995) Paleomagnetic constraints on the paleogeographic evolution of Europe during the Paleozoic. In: Dallmeyer et al. (eds) Pre-Permian geology of Central and Eastern Europe. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 567–578
Dallmeyer RD, Franke W, Weber K (1995) Pre-Permian geology of Central and Eastern Europe. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Dombrowsky A, Henjes-Kunst R, Höhndorf A, Kröner A, Okrusch M, Richter P (1995) Orthogneisses in the Spessart crystalline complex, north-west Bavaria: Silurian granitoid magmatism at an active continental margin. Geol Rundsch 84:399–411
Flöttmann T, Oncken O (1992) Constraints on the evolution of the mid-German crystalline rise: a study of outcrops west of the river Rhine. Geol Rundsch 81:515–543
Franke W, Oncken O (1995) Zur prä-devonischen Geschichte des Rhenohercynischen Beckens. Nova Acta Leopoldina NF 71:53–72
Franke W, Dallmeyer RD, Weber K (1995) Geodynamit evolution. In: Dallmeyer et al. (eds) Pre-Permian geology of Central and Eastern Europe. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, 579–593
Frenzel G (1971) Die Mineralparagenese der Albersweiler Lamprophyre (Südpfalz). N Jb Miner Abh 115:164–191
Genser H (1965) Fossilfunde aus den Schiefern von Weiler bei Weissenburg/Elsass Jber Mitt oberrh geol Ver 47:153–157
Häntzschel W (1972) Lebensspuren in den Kulm-Tonschiefern von Neustadt a. d. Weinstrasse. Oberrhein Geol Abh 21:107–115
Hess JC, Schmidt G (1989) Zur Alterstellung der Kataklasite im Bereich der Otzberg-Zone, Odenwald. Geol Jb Hessen 117:69–77
Hess JC, Lippolt HJ, Kober B (1995) The age of the Kragenfels granite (northern Vosges) and its bearing on the intrusion scheme of late Variscan granitoids. Geol Rundsch 84:568–577
Kirsch H, Kober B, Lippolt HJ (1988) Age of intrusion and rapid cooling of the Frankenstein gabbro (Odenwald, SW-Germany) evidenced by40Ar/39Ar and single zircon207Pb/206Pb measurements. Geol Rundsch 77:693–711
Kober B (1987) Single-zircon evaporation combined with Pb+ emitter-bedding for207Pb/206Pb-age investigations using thermal ion mass spectrometry, and implications to zirconology. Contrib Mineral Petrol 96:63–71
Kröner A, Jaeckel P, Williams IS (1994) Pb-loss patterns in zircons from a high-grade metamorphic terrain as revealed by different dating methods: U-Pb and Pb-Pb ages for igneous and metamorphic zircons from northern Sri Lanka. Precambrian Res 66:151–181
Laue S, Reischmann T (1994) Petrographie und Geochemie variscischer Intrusiva der westlichen Rheingrabenschulter. Mitt Pollichia 81:195–214
Lippolt HJ (1986) Nachweis altpaläozoischer Primäralter (Rb-Sr) und karbonischer Abkühlungsalter (K-Ar) der Muskovit-Biotit-Gneise des Spessarts und der Biotit-Gneise des Böllsteiner Odenwaldes. Geol Rundsch 75:569–583
Liew TC, Hofmann AW (1988) Precambrian crustal components, plutonic associations, plate environment of the Hercynian fold belt in central Europe: indications from an Nd and Sr isotopic study. Contrib Mineral Petrol 98:129–138
Löhr P (1991) Zur Petrographie und Geochemie der Lamprophyre der nordwestlichen Rheingrabenrandschulter, Südpfalz und nördliches Elsass. Diplomarbeit, Universität Mainz, 123
Meisl S (1990) Metavolcanic rocks in the “Northern Phyllite Zone” at the southern margin of the Rhenohercynian belt. In: Franke W (ed) Int Conf Palaeozoic Orogens in Central Europe. Field guide mid-German crystalline rise and Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, Giessen-Göttingen, pp 25–42
Montigny R, Schneider C, Royer JY, Thuizat R (1983) K-Ar dating of some plutonic rocks of the Vosges. Terra Cognita 3:201
Mühe R (1992) Ignimbrit- und Tuff-Horizonte in den Metasedimenten von Weiler/Wissembourg (Elsass): Hinweise für orogenen Kalk-Alkali-Vulkanismus im Bereich des Saxothuringikums. N Jb geol Paläont Mh 7:435–447
Münzing K (1956) Geologische Beobachtungen im Pfälzerwald. Pfälzer Heimat 7:14–16
Nasir S, Okrusch M, Kreuzer H, Lenz H, Höhndorf A (1991) Geochronology of the Spessart crystalline complex, mid-German crystalline rise. Mineral Petrol 44:39–55
Odin GS (1994) Geological time scale (1994). C R Acad Sci Paris 318:59–71
Pupin JP, Turco G (1975) Typologie de zircon accessoire dans les roches plutonique dioritiques, granitiques et syénitiques. Facteures essentiels déterminant les variations typologiques. Pétrologie 1:139–156
Sommermann AE (1993) Zirkonalter aus dem Granit der Bohrung Saar 1. Beih Europ J Mineral 5:145
Sommermann AE, Meisl S, Todt W (1992) Zirkonalter von drei verschiedenen Metavulkaniten aus dem Südtaunus. Geol Jb Hessen 120:67–76
Sommermann AE, Anderle HJ, Todt W (1994) Das Alter des Quarzkeratophyrs der Krausaue bei Rüdesheim am Rhein (Bl. 6013 Bingen, Rheinisches Schiefergebirge). Geol Jb Hessen 122:143–157
Stacey JS, Kramers JD (1976) Approximation of terrestrial lead isotope evolution by a two-stage model. Earth Planet Sci Lett 26:207–221
Steiger RH, Jäger E (1977) Subcommission on geochronology: convention on the use of decay constants in geo- and cosmochronology. Earth Planet Sci Lett 36:359–362
Todt WA, Altenberger U, Raumer JF von (1995) U-Pb data on zircons for the thermal peak of metamorphism in the Variscan Odenwald, Germany. Geol Rundsch 84:466–472
Wendt IJ, Todt W (1991) A vapour digestion method for dating single zircons by direct measurement of U and Pb without chemical separation. Terra Abstr 3:507–508
White WM, Patchett PJ (1984) Hf-Nd-Sr isotopes and incompatible element abundances in island arcs: implications for magma origins and crust-mantle evolution. Earth Planet Sci Lett 67:167–185
York D (1969) Least squares fitting of a straight line with correlated errors. Earth Planet Sci Lett 5:320–324
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reischmann, T., Anthes, G. Geochronology of the mid-German crystalline rise west of the River Rhine. Geol Rundsch 85, 761–774 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02440109
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02440109