Tectonically Significant Fault Zones in Central Europe (Germany, Czech Republic and Poland) and Their Surface and Subsurface Outcrops: Franconian Line, Hronov-Porici Fault, Sudetic Marginal Fault and Lusatian Fault

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter describes and documents four main fault zones in central Europe and their outcrops in (sub)surface as a geological field guide. These up to 1500 km long often morphologically distinctive fault zones, including The Sudetic Marginal Fault, the Lusatian Fault, the Hronov-Porici Fault and the Franconian Line, are mainly oriented in the NW–SE direction. These fault zones played an essential role in controlling tectonics in Central Europe. They were reactivated during geological history, and some of them are also considered active. The fault zones cross three states, namely Germany, Czech Republic and Poland.KeywordsFault zoneCentral EuropeBohemian massifSlickensidesTectonicsReactivation