Variscan granitoids related to shear zones and faults: examples from the Central Sudetes (Bohemian Massif) and the Middle Odra Fault Zone

Abstract

The granitoid intrusions of the Central Sudetes (CS) and of the Middle Odra Fault Zone (MOFZ), NE part of the Bohemian Massif, are both spatially and temporally related to large-scale shear zones and faults (including possible terrane boundaries) that provided effective channels for melt migration. Summarizing common features of the CS and MOFZ granitoids, we have delineated a set of characteristics of the fault-related and shear zone-related granitoids: (1) they are mainly generated by partial melting of crustal sources, with variable contribution (or no contribution) of mantle materials; (2) the sheet-like, steeply inclined, narrow and rather small granitoid intrusions are emplaced within shear zones at mid-crustal level (c. 20 km depth), whereas the larger, flat-lying plutons intrude into the upper crust, outside or above these shear zones; (3) the magmatic foliation and lineation in granitoids of the deeper, sheet-like intrusions are concordant with those in the surrounding metamorphic rocks, suggesting that the solidification of granitoids was coeval with the deformation in the shear zones; instead, the magmatic foliation in the shallower and larger dome-like plutons reflects magma flow; (4) ductile, transcurrent movements along the shear zones postdate medium-pressure regional metamorphism and are accompanied by an increase in the local thermal gradient, as documented by the crystallization of cordierite, andalusite and sillimanite; (5) the increase in the thermal gradient precedes the emplacement of granitoids and their concomitant thermal influence on the country rocks. The granitoids related to the final stages of tectonothermal activity of the shear zones are good-time markers of their evolutionary path.