The shape of the Variscan Belt in Central Europe : strike-slip tectonics versus oroclinal bending

Abstract

"The European Variscan belt sharply changes its trend in easternmost Germany and western Poland, where the ENE- to NE-striking structures are replaced by the ESE- to SE-trending ones. The structures of still another, NNE-SSW strike, take the lead, however, along the SE margin of the Bohemian Massif. The Variscan belt seems, thus, to make nearly a U-turn, encircling the Bohemian Massif from the north. This has been explained for almost a century by assuming a 180° oroclinal loop, in which the Rhenohercynian and Saxothuringian tectonostratigraphic zones inarm the core of the Bohemian Massif. According to this classical view, the outermost tectonostratigraphic zone of the Variscan belt, the Rhenohercynian Zone, continues eastward in the deep substratum of the Permian-Mesozoic basin and reappears at the surface along the eastern rim of the Bohemian Massif." (fragm.)