Apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He dating of teschenite intrusions gives time constraints on accretionary processes and development of planation surfaces in the Outer Western Carpathians.

Abstract

The age of planation surfaces in the Podbeskydská pahorkatina Upland in the Outer Western Carpathians (OWC, Czech Republic) is constrained by low-temperature thermochronological dating methods for the first time. Our apatite fission track and apatite (U-Th)/He data measured on teschenite intrusions show that planation surfaces in the study area formed in post-Pannonian time (>7.1 Ma) and are therefore younger than traditionally believed. This contradicts the classical concepts, which stipulate that a large regional planation surface of Pannonian age (the so-called “midmountain level”) developed in the whole Western Carpathians. Geodynamic implications of our data are the following: (i) the investigated Těšín and Godula nappes of the OWC were buried and thermally overprinted in the accretionary wedge in different ways, and consequently experienced different cooling histories. This indicates a dynamic basin setting with an active accretionary process in a subduction zone; (ii) accretionary processes in the OWC were active already during Late Eocene times.