The role of the proto-Alpine Cenerian Orogen in the AvalonianCadomian belt

Abstract

The proto-Alpine Cenerian orogen (Ediacaran-Ordovician) and the Cadomian orogen (Ediacaran-Cambrian), remnants of which are exposed in the central European Variscides, should be defined as two distinct and spatially separated coastal orogens within the Avalonian-Cadomian belt. The Cadomian orogen originally lay in front of the Sahara metacraton. It underwent a change from an active to a passive margin setting during the Cambrian. The Cenerian orogen, represented by intra-Alpine rocks, was located farther east near the Arabian Nubian Shield, from where it inherited a characteristic Tonian/Stenian detrital zircon signal. Subduction persisted in the Cenerian Orogen until the Ordovician. The Cadomian orogen was akin to Andean type whereas the Cenerian orogen was more akin to Alaskan type. This paper explores why the two orogens have such different characteristics and tectonic evolutions despite their probable proximity in the Avalonian-Cadomian belt. One explanation could be that they were at nearly right-angles to each other due to a strong concave bending of the northern Gondwana margin ahead of the Arabian-Nubian Shield.