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In the Sudetes, seven distinct lithostratigraphic terranes exhibit a symmetric distribution. A central region of basinal/oceanic and ophiolitic rocks, the Central Sudetic terrane is bordered, respectively to the northwest and southeast, by the sialic Saxothuringian and Moldanubian terranes. These exhibit contrasting metasedimentary/metavolcanic successions and tectonic-metamorphic sequences, but both are characterized by Palaeozoic plutonism. These are in turn bordered (again respectively to the northwest and southeast) by the Lusatian and Moravian terranes, which are also sialic, but contain Cadomian granitoids and represent rifted and now widely separated fragments of Gondwana. Along the southwestern flank of the Sudetes, the Barrandian terrane, largely covered by younger sediments, extends to the southwestern margin of the Bohemian Massif. The Sowie Góry terrane forms a klippe of high grade gneisses tectonically emplaced on top of low-grade, sheared ophiolites of the Central Sudetic terrane. The Sowie Góry terrane exhibits a history of three distinct, probably multi-orogenic, regional metamorphic events: an early high-pressure granulite/eclogite metamorphism followed by medium- to low-pressure granulite, and in turn by amphibolite facies metamorphism. All the terrane boundaries are complex zones of ductile to brittle shearing, modified by later brittle movements. Some, such as the Leszczyniec shear zone, mark lines of old, pre-Variscan rift and suture zones, reactivated and overprinted during a series of Variscan ductile to brittle events of extensional shearing with related metamorphism and plutonism.

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