Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic inheritance and Ediacaran anatexis recorded in gneisses at the NE margin of the Bohemian Massif: SHRIMP zircon data from the Nowolesie gneiss, Fore-Sudetic Block (SW Poland)

Abstract

Recent geochronological studies, including sensitive high mass-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) zircon dating, have helped to differentiate into specific age groups the various gneisses that occur within the basement units of the central-European Variscides. The Fore-Sudetic Block basement unit, for example, has been divided into two major gneiss groups of Neoproterozoic and Cambrian/Ordovician age, respectively. These two gneiss groups have been assigned to different tectonic units, themselves separated by a major tectonic boundary that is interpreted to be the northern continuation of the Moldanubian (Lugodanubian) Thrust. This thrust divides the main tectonostratigraphic units of the Bohemian Massif: the Moldanubian and Saxo-Thuringian units to the west, and the Moravo-Silesian unit to the east. This paper interprets new SHRIMP zircon data from the Nowolesie gneiss at Skalice (sample S6) and integrates the results with data from the Strzelin gneiss at Dębniki (sample S3), which is within the Strzelin Massif (E part of the Fore-Sudetic Block). Both the Nowolesie and Strzelin gneisses contain numerous inherited zircons within the age range of 1.5–2.0 Ga, indicating Meso- and Palaeoproterozoic sources for the zircons and suggesting that these zircons were recycled into younger units that subsequently underwent partial melting. The ages derived from samples S6 and S3, together with the absence of the Grenvillian ages (~1.3–0.9 Ga), suggest a West-African and/or Amazonian cratonic crust as the source for both the Nowolesie and Strzelin gneiss protoliths. The main zircon populations from both gneisses fall into two similar age groups: 602 ± 7 Ma and 587 ± 4 Ma for the Nowolesie gneiss; 600 ± 7 Ma and 568 ± 7 Ma for the Strzelin gneiss. These sets of Ediacaran (late Neoproterozoic) dates possibly reflect anatexis of the gneiss protoliths during the Cadomian orogeny.