Special Issue "U-Pb Geochronology and the Variscan Overprint of the Cadomian-Pan-African Cycles: A Timely Relationship"

Dear Colleagues,

The Variscan/Hercynian-Alleghenian Orogenic Belt is one of the largest mountain ranges in the Earth’s history. Its evolution is not only large on a spatial scale, but also on a temporal scale, as the geodynamic cycle that formed Pangea lasted over 250 Ma, transitioning from the Cadomian-Pan-African orogenies in the Ediacaran, to the rift-to-drift events in the Cambrian–Ordovician to the closure of several paleo oceans during the Silurian–Carboniferous which, finally, culminated in the amalgamation of Pangea.

Major geodynamic stages have long been recognized, whereas some have only recently been proposed or accepted, but precise and detailed time controls on the timing/nature of the tectonomagmatic/sedimentary events that contributed to the individuality of most Variscan terranes and its paleogeography, particularly the highly deformed and metamorphosed sectors of most domains, are still obscure.

This Special Issue will be devoted to new U-Pb geochronological data or reinterpretations that can contribute to understanding the Cadomian-Pan-African orogens, the rift-to-drift events and the transition to the Variscan Orogeny that shaped the northern margin of the Gondwana Supercontinent. Particularly welcomed are accessory phase U-Pb geochronological and isotopic correlation studies between intervening crustal domains in the build-up of Pangea that could lead to new models for the sources/provenances, basement infrastructure composition and the geodynamic evolution of the Variscan Orogeny.

Prof. Dr. Telmo M. Bento dos Santos
Prof. Dr. Martim Chichorro
Dr. Rita Solá
Guest Editors

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• post-Gondwana geodynamics
• zircon dating
• paleogeographic reconstructions
• crustal reworking