Journal
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH
Volume 144, Issue 3-4, Pages 297-315Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.precamres.2005.11.011
Keywords
geochemistry of sediments; Ediacaran; Early Cambrian; northern Gondwana margin; Cadomian orogeny; Ossa-Morena zone
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Geochemical data from clastic rocks of the Ossa-Morena Zone (Iberian Massif) show that the main source for the Ediacaran and the Early Cambrian sediments was a recycled Cadomian magmatic arc along the northern Gondwana margin. The geodynamic scenario for this segment of the Avalonian-Cadomian active margin is considered in terms of three main stages: (1) The 570-540 Ma evolution of an active continental margin evolving oblique collision with accretion of oceanic crust, a continental magmatic arc and the development of related marginal basins; (2) the Ediacaran-Early Cambrian transition (540-520 Ma) coeval with important orogenic magmatism and the formation of transtensional basins with detritus derived from remnants of the magmatic arc; and (3) Gondwana fragmentation with the formation of Early Cambrian (520-510 Ma) shallow-water platforms in transtensional grabens accompanied by rift-related magmatism. These processes are comparable to similar Cadomian successions in other regions of Gondwanan Europe and Northwest Africa. Ediacaran and Early Cambrian basins preserved in the Ossa-Morena Zone (Portugal and Spain), the North Armorican Cadomian Belt (France), the Saxo-Thuringian Zone (Germany), the Western Meseta and the Western High-Atlas (Morocco) share a similar geotectonic evolution, probably situated in the same paleogeographic West African peri-Gondwanan region of the Avalonian-Cadomian active margin. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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