Carboniferous–Permian magmatism and Mo–Cu (W) mineralization in the contact zone between the Małopolska and Upper Silesia Blocks (south Poland): an echo of the Baltica–Gondwana collision

The Krakow–Lubliniec tectonic zone (KLFZ) in southern Poland, which divides the Malopolska Block (MB) from the Upper Silesia Block (USB), is a portion of the SW margin of the Trans-European Suture Zone. Zircon U–Pb dating of a variety of igneous rocks (granodiorites, dacites, lamprophyre and diabase) from the subsurface Krakow–Lubliniec igneous belt along the KLFZ shows that magmatism spanned within a narrow time period (ca. 10 Ma) between 303.8 ± 2.2 and 292.7 ± 4.9 Ma. The earlier magmatism (303.8 ± 2.2–294.7 ± 2.3 Ma) was felsic calc-alkaline, and the contemporaneous or/and slightly later alkaline volcanism (294.4 ± 4.9–292.7 ± 4.9 Ma) was of mafic–intermediate composition. The felsic rocks (granitoids and dacitoids) are weakly peraluminous, medium to high K, moderate Mg# (0.39–0.46), weakly evolved and I-type rocks. Due to the intensive development of hydrothermal alteration, these rocks are commonly strongly altered and locally mineralized by porphyry and other types of Mo–Cu (W) ores that are closely related to the felsic magmatism in space and time. The zircon U–Pb dating yielded ages which are similar to the previously measured Re–Os ages of molybdenites from the KLFZ. Felsic magmatism at the Myszkow Mo–Cu–W deposit yielded ages in the range 301.0 ± 2.1–295.9 ± 2.9 Ma. The youngest rocks dated are from the Myslow area in the USB—volcanic alkaline rocks (lamprophyre and diabase) of shoshonitic character, with low Mg# (0.49 and 0.69, respectively) and Ni contents (< 62 ppm), indicative of a relatively juvenile magma composition. Inherited zircon cores, remnant detrital zircon from a sediment component in the source rocks, were dated to be ranging from ca. 2775 to 575 Ma. Inheritance of ca. 600 Ma (Cadomian basement) and ca. 1.40 Ga (Mesoproterozoic) is common in the rocks from both blocks, but those from the MB contain additional inheritance with dates of 2.78–2.67 and 2.05–1.92 Ga, both ages characteristic of zircon from the Svecofennian of northern Europe (Baltica). The inherited zircon from the youngest alkaline rocks provided evidence for Mesoproterozoic (ca. 1.55–1.44 and 1.09 Ga) and Palaeoproterozoic (1.96 Ga) thermal events in the USB, and its possible affinity to Avalonian cratonic crust as a source for its igneous protolith. U–Pb isotopic studies of zircons from KL igneous belt indicate its inherited signatures from the crustal sources and magma emplacements during the KLFZ wrenching which allowed channels and room for magma emplacement along the MB and USB in upper Carboniferous–lower Permian on SW margin of the East-European Craton. Mo–Cu (W) ore mineralization, associated with the ~ 300 Ma felsic magmatism, represents rather the product of decompression melting induced in the areas of decreased pressure, undergone in the regional wrench fault zones than the classic Mo–Cu porphyry-style mineralization.