Variscan 2012 - Length scales, time scales and relative contribution of Variscan orogenic events to formation of European crust / Sassari, Italie

Length scales, time scales and relative contribution of Variscan orogenic events to formation of European crust
Special meeting of French and Italian Geological Societies

May 22 –23, 2012 Sassari, Italy

Pre-conference excursion in the Maures Massif and Corsica from 19 to 21 May.
Scientific sessions in Sassari from 22 to 23 May.
Post-conference excursion through Sardinia from Sassari to Cagliari from 24 to 26 May.

The Variscan orogeny in Europe resulted from amalgamation of Gondwana- derived continental blocks derived by Ordovician fragmentation of this supercontinent. The Early-Palaeozoic fragmentation process was associated with major magmatic reworking of Proterozoic crust, development of intercontinental rifts, passive margins and oceanic domains. This event influenced irregularly structure and composition of the future Variscan crust. Subsequent drift of continental blocks terminated by amalgamation of microblocks during Devonian and Carboniferous followed by final accretion to Laurussia. This process was governed by closure of intervening oceanic basins between different sized microblocks, which led to further heterogeneous thermal and magmatic reworking of the continental crust. Towards the end of Carboniferous, the plate configuration changed leading to major shortening along the orogen's axis, which was associated with activity of lithosphere-scale strike-slip faults accompanied with magmatic activity. Several modern studies have shown that above-mentioned processes affected the Variscan system with different intensity; thus in Central Western Europe the Late Carboniferous event was subordinate, whereas the southern European realm shows complete magmatic reworking leading to a formation of continental crust quite different from that formed in the north.

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