Late Cretaceous to Paleogene exhumation in Central Europe – localized inversion vs. large-scale domal uplift

Abstract

Abstract. Large parts of Central Europe have experienced exhumation in Late Cretaceous to Paleogene time. Previous studies mainly focused on thrusted basement uplifts to unravel magnitude, processes and timing of exhumation. This study provides, for the first time, a comprehensive thermochronological dataset from mostly Permo-Triassic strata exposed adjacent to and between the basement uplifts in central Germany, comprising an area of at least some 250–300 km across. Results of apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He analyses on > 100 new samples reveal that (i) km-scale exhumation affected the entire region, (ii) thrusting of basement blocks like the Harz Mountains and the Thuringian Forest focused in the Late Cretaceous (about 90–70 Ma) while superimposed domal uplift of central Germany is slightly younger (about 75–55 Ma), and (iii) large parts of the domal uplift experienced removal of 3 to 4 km of Mesozoic strata. Using spatial extent, magnitude and timing as constraints suggests that thrusting and crustal thickening alone can account for no more than half of the domal uplift. Most likely, dynamic topography caused by upwelling asthenosphere has contributed significantly to the observed pattern of exhumation in central Germany.

Evidence for active upper mantle flow in the Atlantic and Indo-Australian realms since the Upper Jurassic from hiatus maps and spreading rate changes

“…There are also well-documented regional uplift episodes reported, for instance, for the British Isles, Greenland, Scandinavia and Central Europe (e.g. [66–69]). Reviews of uplift and subsidence events across the region are given by various authors [70–72].…”

Reconstructing post-Jurassic overburden in central Europe: new insights from mudstone compaction and thermal history analyses of the Franconian Alb, SE Germany

“…This, together with mantle-induced (upwelling asthenosphere) domal uplift below the Upper Rhine Graben Rift to the west of the Franconian Alb area (Fig. 1), caused southward tilting of the Mesozoic strata (von Eynatten et al, 2021). Subsequent and tilting-related differential erosion in turn resulted in the characteristic scarpland morphology (Schröder, 1968), leaving only local erosional remnants and residual weathering products (e.g., Kallmünz boulders, Alblehm) witnessing former Cretaceous overburden (Glaser et al, 2001;Schirmer, 2015).…”

The Subhercynian Basin: an example of an intraplate foreland basin due to a broken plate

“…5) using a fault-parallel flow deformation algorithm (Erslev, 1986). Total displacement of the hanging wall was adjusted iteratively to best match exhumation estimates from thermochronology (von Eynatten et al, 2019(von Eynatten et al, , 2021. Our cross section (Fig.…”