Lyell Collection
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) FREE
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Franke, W.
Right arrow Articles by Tanner, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2000; v. 179; p. 1-3;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2000.179.01.01
© 2000 Geological Society of London

Orogenic processes: quantification and modelling in the Variscan belt

Wolfgang Franke1, Volker Haak2, Onno Oncken2 & David Tanner3

1 Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Giessen, Senckenbergstrasse 3, D-35390 Giessen, Germany
2 GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany
3 Geologisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Albertstrasse 23b, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany

Research into the orogenic processes that shaped the continental crust of Europe has a long-standing tradition. Why the need to quantify and model? It is not just satisfactory to identify ancient examples of subduction zones, accretionary prisms, island arcs, extensional collapse and other standard items of the geodynamic menu. Such interpretations need to be quantified: what was the extent and composition of subducted crust, angle and speed of subduction, amount and composition of melts produced, heat sources for metamorphism? All such interpretations have to conform to first principles, and also to stand the test of quantitative balancing—a concept first developed for the conservation of length or volume in tectonic cross sections. Also in other fields, the correlation of causes and effects and the internal consistency of dynamic models requires a numerical approach.

Modelling a Palaeozoic orogen, for some people, may look like a hopeless task from the very beginning. The fossil record of ancient orogenic crust is limited by erosion from above, and re-equilibration of the Moho from below. The Variscan basement had already been eroded and buried in late Permian and Mesozoic time, and was later exhumed again by Alpine foreland compression, uplifted on the shoulders of grabens or above a mantle plume. Good outcrops are scarce. Living orogens are more attractive in many respects, but it was not advisable to have our group dispersed over the planet: the project needed regional focus and interdisciplinary collaboration. The European Variscides were the obvious target, since a wealth of basic information

...

This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract.





This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Geological Society, London, MemoirsHome page
D. G. Gee and R. A. Stephenson
The European lithosphere: an introduction
Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2006; 32: 1 - 9.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, MemoirsHome page
P. A. Ziegler and P. Dezes
Crustal evolution of Western and Central Europe
Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2006; 32: 43 - 56.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, MemoirsHome page
T. McCann, C. Pascal, M.J. Timmerman, P. Krzywiec, J. Lopez-Gomez, L. Wetzel, C.M. Krawczyk, H. Rieke, and J. Lamarche
Post-Variscan (end Carboniferous-Early Permian) basin evolution in Western and Central Europe
Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2006; 32: 355 - 388.
[Abstract] [PDF]