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The Evolution of the Rheic Ocean: From Avalonian-Cadomian Active Margin to Alleghenian-Variscan Collision

2007; Geological Society of America; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1130/spe423

Ulf Linnemann, R. Damian Nance, Petr Kraft, Gernold Zulauf,

Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils

The upper allochthon of northwest Iberia represents the most exotic terrane of this part of the European Variscan belt.Recent advances in the metamorphic petrology, structural geology, and geochronology of the upper allochthon in the Órdenes complex are integrated into a synthesis of its tectonic evolution, constraining the main tectonothermal events.Important aspects of this synthesis are (1) the interpretation of Cambro-Ordovician magmatism and earliest metamorphic event, as the result of drifting of a peri-Gondwanan terrane; (2) the subsequent shortening and crustal thickening of the terrane related to its subduction and accretion to Laurussia; (3) a younger cycle of shortening and extension resulting from convergence between Laurussia and Gondwana; and (4) the emplacement of this exotic terrane as the upper allochthon, together with underlying ophiolitic and basal allochthons, during the Laurussia-Gondwana collision.Implications derived from the well-established tectonothermal sequence are discussed in the context of Paleozoic paleogeography and geodynamics.The evolution