Provenance of Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic siliciclastic rocks of the Tepla-Barrandian unit (Bohemian Massif): Evidence from U-Pb detrital zircon ages

New LA-ICP-MS U-Pb detrital zircon ages from Ediacaran and Paleozoic siliciclastic rocks are used to constrain provenance and paleogeographic affinities of the Tepla-Barrandian unit (TBU) in the centre of the Bohemian Massif (Central Europe, Czech Republic). The samples taken span the period from <= 635 Ma to similar to 385 Ma and permit recognition of provenance changes that reflect changes in geotectonic regime. Detrital zircon age spectra of two Ediacaran, one Lower Cambrian and three Upper Ordovician samples resemble the ages known from the NW African proportion of Gondwana, particularly the Trans-Saharan belt, while three rocks from higher Lower Cambrian to Lowermost Ordovician strata contain detritus that may have been derived exclusively from local sources. The age spectrum of the Devonian rock is a combination of the NW Gondwanan and local features. These new findings in combination with a wide range of published data are in agreement with a Neoproterozoic subduction-related setting at the margin of Gondwana followed by a Cambrian/Early Ordovician rifting stage and an Ordovician passive margin setting. Furthermore the data are in favour of a position of the TBU at the Gondwanan margin throughout pre-Variscan times. (C) 2010 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.