Early Carboniferous (~337 Ma) granite intrusion in Devonian (~400 Ma) ophiolite of the Central-European Variscides

Abstract

The Central-Sudetic ophiolites comprise mafic-ultramafic complexes around the E and S edges of the Góry Sowie Massif in SW Poland and are recognized as fragments of Devonian (~400 Ma old) oceanic crust. They contain small rodingite bodies and tectonized granite dykes that potentially can highlight the igneous, metamorphic and structural development of the ophiolitic suites. The granite dykes have been tentatively correlated with the Variscan granitoids of the Strzegom-Sobótka Massif to the north. However, new U-Pb SHRIMP zircon data for granites from the serpentinite quarry at Jordanów show a concordia age of 337 ±4 Ma for the main zircon population, and of 386 ±10 Ma for minor inheritance. Thus, the age of the granite is considerably older than the ages of the Strzegom-Sobótka granitoids, dated at ~310-294 Ma. The granite dyke has a similar age as some other granitoids found near the ophiolitic fragments, e.g., the Niemcza granitoids to the south, dated at 338 +2/-3 Ma; these older granitoids all represents a relatively early stage of granitoid magmatism recorded in that part of the Variscan Orogen. The age of the granitoid dyke within serpentinites confirms that the Paleozoic ophiolites were incorporated into the continental crust already in early Visean times.