Geochronology, geochemistry, and geodynamic evolution of Tatric granites from crystallization to exhumation (Tatra Mountains, Western Carpathians)

: The Western and High Tatra Mountains (northern Slovakia, southern Poland) contain the best-exposed rocks record within the Carpathian orogenic belt. Petrological, geochemical, and geochronological data from granitic assemblages across the Western (n = 1) and High Tatra Mountains (n = 19) were used to understand how they responded to an extended tectonic and magmatic history. Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) zircon dating shows a dominant Early Carboniferous (Tournaisian, TuffZirc age = 349.3 + 2.9 / −1.5 Ma at 95 % confidence, n = 119 spots), but Paleoproterozoic/Neoarchean (2544 ± 33 Ma, ±1σ) to Late Carboniferous (Kasimovian, 305.8 ± 6.2 Ma) dates were also found. The age pattern is consistent with granitic assemblages within the European Variscan belt and suggests an affinity with Armorican terranes derived from a northern Gondwanan Cadomian arc. The final stages of Variscan orogenic collapse are timed at ca. 315 Ma based on the youngest zircon age population. Monazite dated in thin section are also Tournaisian, but the youngest age is Permian (Th–Pb, 270.0 ± 9.1 Ma, ±1σ), consistent with timing of large-scale Pangean Permian extension. High Tatra granite K-feldspar 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages indicate slow post-magmatic cooling after granite crystallization. The oldest 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages from two samples near Lomnický štít (LS) suggest a thermal event in the Late Triassic (~220 Ma), but others from the sub-Tatra fault and near Gerlachovský štít (GS) are younger (Early Cretaceous, ~120 Ma). The thermal history from K-feldspar at the base of LS shows pulsed exhumation at faster rates between 70–55 Ma (300–200 ° C) and 45–35 Ma (200–100 ° C). The results document the Paleo-Alpine tectonic imprint of the Western and High Tatra Mountains until the onset of more Neo-Alpine exhumation. The data point to uplift earlier than suggested by models of extrusion tectonics applied to the region. Early uplift is connected with Eocene ALCAPA (ALps–CArpathians–PAnnonia) escape leading later to the development of the Carpathian arc.