ALBERT

Description: The provenance analyses of Permo-Carboniferous fluvial sandstones of the southern part of the Boskovice Basin and the Zöbing area are based on a wide spectrum of analytical techniques (petrography, heavy mineral assemblages, chemistry of garnet, rutile and spinel, zircon study, major and trace elements). The studied sandstones are poorly sorted and reveal a relatively immature composition implying short distance transport, rapid deposition, a high-relief source area, mainly physical weathering and the minor role of chemical weathering. Different source areas for the Boskovice Basin and the Zöbing area were proved. The Zöbing material was predominantly derived from crystalline units, mainly formed by metamorphic complexes, although the portions of magmatic and volcanic material were significant. The source area is supposed to be located in the Moldanubian Unit. The Boskovice Basin deposits, on the other hand, seem to be mainly derived from metamorphic complexes, corresponding especially to the Moravian Unit, with a relatively wider spectrum of metamorphites, together with the derivation of the detritus from pre-existing sedimentary rocks (especially from Moravo- Silesian Paleozoic deposits/Drahany Culm unit). The transport direction in the basin was more complex, both from the west and east. These results did not confirm the possibility of communication between the Boskovice Basin and the Zöbing area during the Late Paleozoic. The existence of “colinear” marginally offset half grabens with predominant transversal sources is here hypothesized. The general heavy mineral evolution in time does not indicate the successive exhumation of a simple structured orogen but may be interpreted as differences in the extent of the source areas.