Prior to their Alpine overprinting, most of the pre-Mesozoic basement areas in Alpine orogenic structures shared a complex evolution, starting with Neoproterozoic sediments that are thought to have received detrital input from both West and East Gondwanan cratonic sources. A subsequent Neoproterozoic–Cambrian active margin setting at the Gondwana margin was followed by a Cambrian–Ordovician rifting period, including an Ordovician cordillera-like active margin setting. During the Late Ordovician and Silurian periods, the future Alpine domains recorded crustal extension along the Gondwana margin, announcing the future opening of the Paleotethys oceanic domain. Most areas then underwent Variscan orogenic events, including continental subduction and collisions with Avalonian-type basement areas along Laurussia and the juxtaposition and the duplication of terrane assemblages during strike slip, accompanied by contemporaneous crustal shortening and the subduction of Paleotethys under Laurussia. Thereafter, the final Pangea assemblage underwent Triassic and Jurassic extension, followed by Tertiary shortening, and leading to the buildup of the Alpine mountain chain.

Recent plate-tectonic reconstructions place the Alpine domains in their supposed initial Cambrian–Ordovician positions in the eastern part of the Gondwana margin, where a stronger interference with the Chinese blocks is proposed, at least from the Ordovician onward. For the Visean time of the Variscan continental collision, the distinction of the former tectonic lower-plate situation is traceable but becomes blurred through the subsequent oblique subduction of Paleotethys under Laurussia accompanied by large-scale strike slip.

Since the Pennsylvanian, this global collisional scenario has been replaced by subsequent and ongoing shortening and strike slip under rising geothermal conditions, and all of this occurred before all these puzzle elements underwent the complex Alpine reorganization.

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Pre-Mesozoic Alpine basements - Their place in the European Paleozoic framework

Magmatic sheet intrusions contribute significantly to the upper crustal magma transport network. The emplacement mechanism of the magmatic sheets controls the final geometry of the intrusions and the characteristics of host rock deformation. Previous observations have highlighted the preponderance of brittle structures, associated with shallow-level sheet intrusions. However, recent studies have suggested that non-brittle host rock behaviour also occurs, particularly related to the formation of magma fingers during shallow-level sill intrusion. Here, we examine both brittle and non-brittle intrusion mechanisms and expand upon them with field observations from a series of widespread and variable magmatic systems. Non-brittle emplacement appears primarily associated with viscous flow of the host rock during intrusion and is therefore intimately linked to the contemporaneous host rock rheology as well as magma dynamics. Purely brittle and non-brittle emplacement processes are found to be end members with many intrusions containing evidence of both behaviours. Deriving the host rock characteristics is therefore important for discerning potential diagnostic intrusion indicators and intrusion geometries both within the field and in modelling. Incorporation of variable host material behaviours in numerical and analogue modelling, tuned using direct field observations, may consequently further our understanding of the controls on shallow-level intrusion.

Sill morphology and comparison of brittle and non-brittle emplacement mechanisms

Petrogenesis and Experimental Petrology of Granitic Rocks

Mesoproterozoic intraplate magmatism in the Kalahari Craton:a review

Concentrations of a series of trace elements of 14 quartz samples from various geological settings (hydrothermal, igneous, metamorphic) in Norway were determined by LA-ICP-MS. FTIR spectroscopy was applied to the same quartz crystals in order to determine the H concentrations and the speciation of H in the quartz lattice. A refined hypothetical charge neutrality equation is suggested, where the atomic ratio of (Al3+ +Fe3+ +B3+) to (P5+ +H+ +Li+ +Na+ +K+) should correspond to 1 for natural quartz crystals. The determined concentrations of Al, Fe, B, P, Li, K and OH- species confirm approximately the charge neutrality equation. The high H/(Li+K+P) ion ratio of igneous quartz compared to hydrothermal and metamorphic quartz, suggests that igneous quartz preferentially incorporates H as OH in lieu of Li, K and P. The results confirm that the FTIR absorption of the OH- band at 3595 cm-1 is attributed to structural B defects in the quartz lattice. The dominating H impurity in most of the quartz samples is, however, molecular H2O. The molecular H2O is presumably related to water-bearing micro pores and not to visible fluid inclusions, because the spectra were recorded from microscopically clear crystals.

Hydrogen speciation and trace element contents of igneous, hydrothermal and metamorphic quartz from Norway

The potential of igneous quartz for providing a better understanding of magmatic processes is demonstrated by studying late-Hercynian rhyolites and granites from central and western Europe. Cathodoluminescence (CL) reveals growth patterns and alteration structures within igneous quartz reflecting the magma crystallisation history. The relatively stable and blue-dominant CL of zoned phenocrysts is principally related to variations in the Ti concentration, which is a function of the crystallisation temperature. The Al/Ti ratio of igneous quartz increases with progressive magma differentiation, as Ti is more compatible, compared to Al, Li, K, Ge, B, Fe, P during magma evolution. The red-dominant CL of the anhedral groundmass quartz in granite is unstable during electron bombardment and associated with OH- and H2O-bearing lattice defects. Thus, CL properties of quartz are different for rocks formed from H2O-poor and H2O-rich melts. Both groundmass and phenocrysts in granites are rich in alteration structures as a result of interaction with deuteric fluids during cooling, whereas phenocrysts in extrusive rocks do not usually contain such structures. The combined study of trace elements along with the analysis of quartz textures and melt inclusion inventories may reveal detailed PTX-paths of granite magmas. This study shows that quartz is a sensitive indicator for physico-chemical changes during the evolution of silicarich magmas. Common growth textures show a wide variety in quartz phenocrysts in rhyolites and some granites. This paper presents a classification of textures, which formed as a result of heterogeneous intra-granular lattice defects and impurities. The alternation of growth and resorption microtextures reflects stepwise adiabatic and non-adiabatic magma ascent, temporary storage of magma in reservoirs and mixing with more mafic, hotter magma. The anhedral groundmass quartz overgrowing early-magmatic phenocrysts in granites is free of growth zoning.

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The evolution of late-Hercynian granites and rhyolites documented by quartz – a review

The Grunehogna and Kullen sills of western Dronning Maud Land were emplaced into water-saturated, partially lithified sediments of the mid-Proterozoic Ritscherflya Supergroup. Fluid inclusion and optical and scanning electron microscope cathodoluminescence studies of quartz grains within and adjacent to the sills (the ‘sill-sediment interactive zone’, referred to as the ‘interactive zone’) showed that only a single generation of later fluid inclusions is present. The fluids are Na-K-Ca-Cl aqueous solutions with temperatures of homogenization between 95 and 105 °C. Individual quartz particles in the sedimentary rocks above the interactive zone have unique fluid inclusion populations. Petrographic and cathodoluminescence evidence indicated that there are three types of quartz grains in the interactive zone. These consist of (i) a xenocrystic type, (ii) a high-temperature quartz that crystallized either from the magma or as a result of anatectic melting of xenolithic (and/or xenocrystic) material, and (iii) euhedral quartz crystals that have grown in vugs in the peripheral zone. Cathodoluminescence of xenocrystic grains indicated the existence of healed microfractures along which fluid inclusions were concentrated and secondary and authigenic overgrowths on older generation quartz grains had developed. The presence of zonal luminescence patterns of detrital particles, coupled with evidence for equilibrium polygonization in the sedimentary rocks adjacent to the peripheral zone up to about 8 m above the upper contact of the Grunehogna sill suggested local thermal tempering or sintering and recrystallization. Luminescence of detrital quartz particles in the overlying Hogfonna Formation reflected variation in the characteristics of their source terrains, and showed limited evidence of heating by the magma. The interactive zone fluid inclusions are formation waters which penetrated microfractures during diagenesis. We show that no large-scale hydrothermal circulation system is likely to develop following intrusion into a water-saturated environment.

H.-J. Behr

Papers

The evolution of late-Hercynian granites and rhyolites documented by quartz – a review

Sill emplacement in wet sediments: fluid inclusion and cathodoluminescence studies at Grunehogna, western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

Fluid inclusion and cathodoluminescence studies on fluorite from the Kerio valley, Kenya

Compilation, Linsser filtering and interpretation of the gravity map of Germany and adjacent regions at a scale of 1:1,000,000