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Fold belt of west and central Europe, formed during the Hercynian orogeny
Most important structures and zones of the Hercynian orogeny in Europe.[1]
The Rhenohercynian Zone or Rheno-Hercynian zone[2] in structural geology describes a fold belt of west and central Europe, formed during the Hercynian orogeny (about 350 to 280 million years ago). The zone consists of folded and thrust Devonian and early Carboniferous sedimentary rocks that were deposited in a back-arc basin along the southern margin of the then existing paleocontinent Laurussia.
The Rhenohercynian Zone, named for the Rhine River and the Hercynian Forest of Antiquity, forms a narrow zone through western and central Europe, from Cornwall and Ireland in the west to the Harz mountains of central Germany in the east, including the Rhenish Massif (Ardennes, Taunus, Eifel and Hunsrück). The total length of this ancient basin (the Rhenohercynian Basin) could have been more than 2500 km. In the east the basin merges with the East-Silesian basin of southern Poland. The sedimentary rocks that were laid down in the basin are often weakly metamorphic (greenschist facies). Most geologists consider the South-Portuguese zone to be a continuation of the zone to the west.
Whether the Rhenohercynian Basin was a continuous feature or rather a string of temporaneously interconnected smaller basins is not well understood, because in many places the Devonian and Carboniferous rock strata are covered with younger deposits. Parts of the basin have their own names, like the Cornwall basin in Cornwall, the Munster basin in Ireland or the Rhenisch basin in Belgium and Germany.
^Map is based on Franke (1992, 2000), Matte (2001), von Raumer et al. (2003) and Walter (2003)
^Kohl, Horst; Marcinek, Joachim and Nitz, Bernhard (1986). Geography of the German Democratic Republic, VEB Hermann Haack, Gotha, pp. 8 ff. ISBN 978-3-7301-0522-1.
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The RhenohercynianZone or Rheno-Hercynian zone in structural geology describes a fold belt of west and central Europe, formed during the Hercynian orogeny...
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igneous rock masses or plutons. The Gießen-Harz surface layer of the Rhenohercynianzone, which is widespread in the Harz, consists mainly of flysch. Well-known...
(around 300 million years ago). Most of the massif is part of the Rhenohercynianzone of this orogeny, that also encompasses the Harz further east and...
between the RhenohercynianZone to the northwest and the Moldanubian Zone to the southeast. The Hercynian metamorphism of the former zone is generally...
zircon ages of Devonian and Early Carboniferous siliciclastics of the Rhenohercynianzone, Central European Variscides". Gondwana Research. 25 (4): 1484–1500...
the highly folded nature of the coal seams, part of the geological RhenohercynianZone, meant that surface occurrences of the coal were very abundant. Deep...
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nascent ocean basin leading to either an ocean or the failure of the rift zone. Another expression of lithospheric stretching results in the formation of...
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subduction of the RhenohercynianZone below the Saxothuringian Zone, areas of the Bohemian Massif were reworked. Moldanubian Zone rocks experienced very...
known trilobites from the Early and Late Devonian of the Kellerwald (RhenohercynianZone, German Variscides)". Dortmunder Beiträge zur Landeskunde, Naturwissenschaftliche...
trilobites from the eastern part of the Dinant Synclinorium, Belgium (RhenohercynianZone)". Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. 44:...
Upper Honsel Beds of the north-western Sauerland (Lower Givetian, RhenohercynianZone), with a contribution to scutelluid systematic". Neues Jahrbuch für...
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oceanic crust that is seen as part of the Tethys Ocean Proto-Alps Terrane Rhenohercynian Plate – Fold belt of west and central Europe, formed during the Hercynian...
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