Lithospheric Heterogeneity Across (pre)Phanerozoic Orogens: From late Cadomian and Cenerian to Alpine Accretion
A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Structural Geology and Tectonics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 51
Special Issue Editors
Interests: geology; geology of the Paleozoic of the Balkan Peninsula; structural geology and tectonics; environmental geology (water, soil); geothermal energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: structural geology and tectonics; geodynamics; Variscan basement and its relationships with ore deposits; Cainozoic tectonics in Sardinia and Corsica and its relationship with the geodynamic evolution of the western Mediterranean basins
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue invites contributions that focus on the following tectono-magmatic deformational stages: Avalonian–Cadomian events, Cenerian intra-Ordovician stage, and their amalgamation during Variscan and Alpine events. Understanding these complex processes is necessary, as much of today’s continental lithosphere contains crustal remnants that record the aforementioned tectonic stages. Following significant drift after the Variscan and Cimmerian orogeny, the Alpine cycles further influenced these merged exotic basements.
Advancements in understanding peripheral amalgamations offer insights into ancient tectonic, paleogeographic, and paleoclimatic conditions. This Special Issue invites multidisciplinary research on Avalonian–Cadomian, Cenerian, Variscan, and Alpine tectonics (absolute age dating, biostratigraphy, regional geology, detrital zircon dating, petrology, geophysics). Our focus is on early sedimentary basins primarily formed from metamorphic features (age of oceanic crust, magmatism, maximum depositional ages, sediment provenance from volcanism, and detrital zircons). We also explore ductile-brittle deformation and overprinting styles. We encourage global contributions that investigate these processes across various geological settings and time periods, including Alpine, Cimmerian, Cenerian, and Cadomian. Our aim is to illuminate tectonic influences on pre-Alpine and Alpine paleogeography and basin evolution, as well as how magmato-sedimentary records reveal Earth's crustal history. Contributions on sedimentary processes on other planetary surfaces are welcome as analogues.
This Special Issue will focus on the following key themes:
- Early basin formation: The geodynamic origins of regional extension (rift/back-arc) and constraints on maximum depositional ages.
- Magmatic episodes influencing the early evolution of the basin and its sedimentary pile: Age of oceanic crust, age of magmatism, and evidence of paleogeographic changes (source and shift in sediment provenance).
- Late basin developments: Geodynamic origins of regional compression (subduction, continent-continent convergence).
- Evidence of structural overprinting, constraints on deformation styles.
- Implications for natural resources and seismically related geohazards.
Dr. Darko Spahić
Dr. Fabrizio Cocco
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Avalonian–Cadomian stage
- Cenerian orogeny
- Variscan orogeny
- Alpine orogeny
- detrital zircons
- structural overprinting
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