The Margins of Laurussia in Central and Southeast Europe and Southwest Asia
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Gondwana Research |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Geology and mineralogy |
| Keywords | Laurussia; Peri-Gondwana; Rheic suture |
| Description | The continuation of the Laurussian margin into central and southeast Europe and southwest Asia is defined by the Rheic suture, which becomes harder to trace to the southeast because of complex post-Variscan strike-slip displacements and tectonic stacking linked to the Cimmerian and Alpine cycles. The uncertain extent of the Neoproterozoic Baikalian orogeny fringing Baltica, ambiguous early Paleozoic paleobiogeographic data, and strike-slip activity complicate the distinction of the Tornquist suture from the Transeuropean Suture Zone. There is growing evidence for the incorporation of the Brunovistulian, Malopolska and West Moesian terranes into the late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Baltican margin. The Istanbul–Zonguldak terrane, along with the Bítesh and East Moesia terranes, may have been part of the Avalonian terrane assemblage, although an Arabian–Nubian Shield or Baltica provenance cannot be excluded. The terranes of the Armorica terrane assemblage bordering the Rheic suture include the Outer Carpathian, Tatra, Getic and Balkan terranes in southeast Europe and Sakarya and the Anatolide–Tauride terrane in Turkey. Further east, the Rheic suture may be present in the Caucasus, in all probability between the Greater Caucasus and the Scythian Platform or, alternatively, between the Greater Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Alborz, in northern Iran, is interpreted as a distal part of Transcaucasia. The location of the Rheic suture in the southeast part of the Turan domain of Central Asia is poorly constrained. |
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