Geochemistry

Structural geology

Facies

Zircon

Detritus

Siliciclastic

Paleozoic

Geology

Paleontology

Massif

Structural basin

Ordovician

Petrology

Baltica

Mineral resource classification

Provenance

Mafic

Devonian

Sedimentary depositional environment

Sedimentology

Felsic

International Journal of Earth Sciences

The provenance of top-Famennian sedimentary rocks linked to the Hangenberg Crisis from the northern Rhenish Massif (Germany) was investigated by the means of detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology. Based on the obtained age spectra, three main tectonothermal domains are recognized as possible sources: Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic (~ 2000–1000 Ma) units of Baltica and Early Paleozoic Caledonian orogen (~ 500–400 Ma). Our interpretation of the detritus having been derived from northern source areas, i.e., Baltica and the Scandinavian Caledonides, with a minor input of German-Polish (Rügen-Pomeranian) Caledonides, contradicts the traditional view that, during the Upper Devonian, the northern Rhenish Massif was supplied by detritus from the south. Complementary mineralogical, textural and geochemical analyses point to a derivation of the detritus of Drewer and Hangenberg Sandstones mainly from felsic, recycled continental crust. The elevated concentrations of Pb and Zn in the studied sections are a feature attributed to hydrothermal alteration related to the terminal Devonian synsedimentary volcanism or post-depositional Variscan deformation.

Baltic provenance of top-Famennian siliciclastic material of the northern Rhenish Massif, Rhenohercynian zone of the Variscan orogen