Variscan post-collisional cooling and uplift of the Tatra Mountains crystalline block constrained by integrated zircon, apatite and titanite LA-(MC)-ICP-MS U-Pb dating and rare earth element analyses

LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of apatite, titanite and zircon from the metamorphic cover of the Western Tatra granite was undertaken to constrain the timing of metamorphic events related to the final stages of Variscan orogenesis and subsequent post-orogenic exhumation. Zircon was found only in one sample from the northern metamorphic envelope. U-Pb ages from the outermost rims of zircons define a concordia age of 346 +/- 6 Ma, while the inner rims yield a concordia age of 385 +/- 8 Ma. Apatite from three samples from the northern metamorphic envelope yield U-Pb ages of 351.8 +/- 4.4 Ma, 346.7 +/- 5.9 Ma and 342.6 +/- 7.1 Ma. Titanite from an amphibolite from the southern metamorphic envelope yields a U-Pb age of 345.3 +/- 4.5 Ma. The age of c. 345 Ma is interpreted to represent the climax of metamorphism and the onset of simultaneous exhumation of the entire Tatra Mountains massif, and is recorded mainly in the northern part of the metamorphic cover.

In the southern metamorphic envelope, distinct populations of apatite can be recognized within individual samples based on their rare earth element (REE) and actinide contents. One population of apatite (Ap1) yields a relatively imprecise U-Pb age of 340 +/- 31 Ma. This population comprises apatite grains with very similar trace element compositions to apatite in the northern amphibolite samples, which suggests they crystallized under similar metamorphic conditions to their northern counterparts. A second apatite population (Ap2) yields an age of c. 328 +/- 22 Ma, which is interpreted as neocrystalline apatite that formed during a late-Variscan (hydrothermal?) process involving (P, F, Ca, REE)-rich fluid migration. The youngest generation of apatite (Ap3) yields a U-Pb age of 260 +/- 8 Ma and may have resulted from thermal resetting associated with the regional emplacement of Permian A-type granites. The proposed tectonic model assumes that rapid uplift (and cooling) of the Tatra block initiated at ca. 345 Ma, contemporaneous with anatexis. Subsequent fluid migration, possibly facilitated by extension related to the opening of Paleo-Tethys, affected only the southern part of the Tatra block.