The ‘microcontinent’ Perunica: status and story 15 years after conception

Abstract

Central Europe consists of a complex mosaic of more or less independent terranes with varying tectonometamorphic histories, usually also of different lithological compositions and protolith, and thus it is reasonable to suppose that the majority of these blocks have experienced somewhat different palaeogeographical evolution. The present terrane juxtaposition has been interpreted in general as a result of the Variscan collision of peri-Gondwanan and peri-Baltic derived terranes, with Gondwana on one side and Baltica and/or Laurentia on the other side. However, reconstruction of the pre-Variscan development and mutual palaeogeographical relationships remains a major challenge of interpretation.

A jawed polychaete fauna from the late Ludlow Kozlowskii event interval in the Prague Basin (Czech Republic)

“…Torsvik et al 1992, Cocks & Torsvik 2002. The position of Perunica is less well constrained, but according to Tait et al (1997), Cocks & Torsvik (2002) and Fatka & Mergl (2009) it was situated in more temperate climates in the peri-Gondwanan area at ca 30°S. Havlíček (1999) argued, based on benthic faunas (brachiopods, trilobites and other fossils), that Perunica was much closer to Baltica than any other region of Gondwana, specifying its position to the northeastern corner of peri-Gondwana.…”

Evolutionary implications of a new transitional blastozoan echinoderm from the middle Cambrian of the Czech Republic

“…1.2). The richly fossiliferous siliciclastic levels have been interpreted as deposited in a relatively deep (below storm-wave base) and quiet environment of a mixed platform (Fatka and Mergl, 2009 ). The Jbel Warwmast Formation, the Murero Formation, and the Coulouma Formation consist of upper offshore fine siliciclastic sediments (siltstone to claystone) deposited under low or moderately low energy conditions in a temperate mixed platform (Liñan and Mergl, 2001;Landing et al, 2006;Álvaro et al, 2008).…”

A probable case of heterochrony in the solutan Dendrocystites Barrande, 1887 (Echinodermata: Blastozoa) from the Upper Ordovician of the Prague Basin (Czech Republic) and a revision of the family Dendrocystitidae Bassler, 1938

“…2A, B), and striking at about 20°to the Cambrian Příbram-Jince Basin (Chlupáč 1993(Chlupáč , Štorch et al 1993. In Late Ordovician times, the Prague Basin was located at relatively high palaeolatitudes, close to the Gondwanan palaeocontinent (Fatka & Mergl 2009, Servais & Sintubin 2009. The Upper Ordovician succession is particularly thick, and comprises mainly volcano-clastic and siliciclastic sediments (Havlíček & Vaněk 1966, Štorch et al 1993.…”