Provenance of Palaeozoic sediments by in-situ zircon geochronology and its implications for the Neoproterozoic and Variscan tectonic evolution in the Carnic Alps

• Applicant: Dr. Kerstin Saalmann
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2005 to 2006
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 13922484

The South-Alpine basement units of Carnic Alps (Austria-Italy) form parts of a S-directed fold-and-thrust belt at the southern Variscan margin. Their almost continuous Palaeozoic stratigraphic sequence records the evolution from a Late Ordovician to Early Carboniferous rifted margin setting to Late Early to Late Carboniferous syn-Variscan flysch and post-Variscan molasse-type sedimentation. This proposal aims to use detrital zircons (U-Pb measured with Ion Microprobe) of Early Palaeozoic (pre-Variscan) and Late Palaeozoic (syn-Variscan) (meta-) sedimentary units of the Carnic Alps to study different sediment source areas through time. Key points of the project are (i) to obtain age data of Proterozoic to Early Palaeozoic source areas located in northern Gondwana, (ii) to determine input from various source areas during the Palaeozoic evolution, (iii) to use these data to evaluate current structural and geodynamic models for the southern margin of the Variscan belt, and (iv) to test the relationships and possible links of the South-Alpine basement units to other Variscan terranes in Europe. The project is a contribution to IGCP 497, ¿The Rheic Ocean: Its Origin, Evolution and Correlatives¿.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants