![Avalonia Baltica Sarmatia geologi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Avalonia_Baltica_Sarmatia_geologi.png)
The Trans-European Suture Zone (TESZ), also known as the Tornquist Zone, is the crustal boundary between the Precambrian
East European Craton
The East European Craton (EEC) is the core of the Baltica proto- plate and consists of three crustal regions/segments: Fennoscandia to the northwest, Volgo-Uralia to the east, and Sarmatia to the south. Fennoscandia includes the Baltic Shield ( ...
and the
Phanerozoic orogen
An orogenic belt, or orogen, is a zone of Earth's crust affected by orogeny. An orogenic belt develops when a continental plate crumples and is uplifted to form one or more mountain ranges; this involves a series of geological processes collecti ...
s of South-Western Europe. The zone runs from the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
to the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
. The north-western part of the zone was created by the collision of
Avalonia and
Baltica
Baltica is a paleocontinent that formed in the Paleoproterozoic and now constitutes northwestern Eurasia, or Europe north of the Trans-European Suture Zone and west of the Ural Mountains.
The thick core of Baltica, the East European Craton, ...
/
East European Craton
The East European Craton (EEC) is the core of the Baltica proto- plate and consists of three crustal regions/segments: Fennoscandia to the northwest, Volgo-Uralia to the east, and Sarmatia to the south. Fennoscandia includes the Baltic Shield ( ...
in the
Late Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya.
...
. The south-eastern part of the zone, now largely concealed by deep sedimentary basins, developed through
Variscan and
Alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
orogenic events.
Various branches of the TESZ go under different names:
* The Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone (TTZ) in Ukraine and Poland.
* The Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone (STZ) through
Scania
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...
(Sweden),
Kattegat
The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden ...
, and
North Jutland (Denmark).
* The Trans-European Fault (TEF), Thor-Tornquist Suture or Thor Suture through southern Denmark.
The latter two branches (STZ and TEF) span a triangular area of numerous faults, called the Tornquist Fan.
History of Discovery
In 1893 the Polish geologist
Wawrzyniec Teisseyre suggested the existence of a buried tectonic line close to the
Carpathian Mountains. As part of his work on a Geological Atlas of Galicia he mapped the line from
Galicia in Ukraine to south-eastern Poland. In 1908 the German geologist
Alexander Tornquist
Alexander Tornquist (18 June 1868 in Hamburg – 1 November 1944, Graz) was a German-Austrian geologist, who is known for his work on the northern part of the Trans European Suture Zone and on Mediterranean geology.
Biography
Alexander Tornqu ...
mapped the continuation of the zone from Poland to
Scania
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...
in Sweden.
Tornquist Fan
Whereas the south-eastern part of the TESZ (Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone) is relatively well-confined, the north-western part divides into numerous sutures and faults, which fan out towards the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
and the
Iapetus Suture
The Iapetus Suture is one of several major Fault (geology), geological faults caused by the collision of several ancient land masses forming a suture (geology), suture. It represents in part the remains of what was once the Iapetus Ocean. Iapet ...
which runs between the
Scandinavian and Scottish
Caledonides
The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that o ...
. It includes the following linear features (sorted from the north-east):
* The Fennoscandian Border Zone (FBZ) in
Skagen
Skagen () is Denmark's northernmost town, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalborg. The Port of Skage ...
and
Kattegat
The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden ...
* The Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone (STZ), including many parallel horsts in
Scania
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...
(e.g.
Linderödsåsen and
Söderåsen
Söderåsen is a northwest–southwest elongated bedrock ridge in Scania in southern Sweden. On Söderåsen is Scania's highest point at above sea level. It is intersected by several fissure valleys. The ridge extends from Röstånga in th ...
). This zone experienced
extension in the Jurassic. In association to this event numerous
monogenetic volcano
A monogenetic volcanic field is a type of volcanic field consisting of a group of small monogenetic volcanoes, each of which erupts only once, as opposed to polygenetic volcanoes, which erupt repeatedly over a period of time. The small monogeneti ...
es
sprang up in Central Scania.
* Ringkøbing-Fyn High (RFH)
* Caledonian Deformation Front (CDF)
* Trans-European Fault (TEF)
The
Moho under the Tornquist Fan has a strong topography with depths varying between 26 and 48 km. It started forming during the
Caledonian orogeny
The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that ...
as a microcontinent or a series of
terrane
In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust (geology), crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and Accretion (geology), accreted or "Suture (geology), sutured" to crust lying on another pla ...
s of
Avalonian origin amalgamated with
Baltica
Baltica is a paleocontinent that formed in the Paleoproterozoic and now constitutes northwestern Eurasia, or Europe north of the Trans-European Suture Zone and west of the Ural Mountains.
The thick core of Baltica, the East European Craton, ...
. Faults are believed to have continued forming until late
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
.
Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone
The Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone (TTZ), extending from
Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
at the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
to the
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
at the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
, is primarily known from geophysical studies. Seismic data and gravity models suggest a strong contrast in crustal thickness, with 28–35 km down to the
Moho to the west of the suture and 42–47 km to the east of it. The suture is believed to be buried under thick upper
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
and
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
sediments, and located further west than indicated by historical surface observations.
[M. Narkiewicz et al., Transcurrent nature of the Teisseyre–Tornquist Zone in Central Europe: results of the POLCRUST-01 deep reflection seismic profile, International Journal of Earth Sciences, April 2015, Volume 104, Issue 3, pp 775-796, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00531-014-1116-4]
See also
*
*
References
{{Reflist
Natural history of Europe
Geology of Denmark
Geology of Poland
Geology of Sweden
Geology of Ukraine
Ordovician paleogeography
Ordovician Sweden
Paleozoic Denmark
Paleozoic Poland
Paleozoic Ukraine
Suture zones