ORIGINAL PAPER Carboniferous–Permian volcanic evolution in Central Europe—U/Pb ages of volcanic rocks in Saxony (Germany) and northern Bohemia (Czech Republic) Uwe Hoffmann • Christoph Breitkreuz • Karel Breiter • Sergey Sergeev • Klaus Stanek • Marion Tichomirowa Received: 21 April 2011 / Accepted: 20 May 2012 / Published online: 3 July 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract Nine SHRIMP U/Pb ages on zircon and two Pb/ Pb single zircon ages have been determined from Late Paleozoic volcanic rocks from Saxony and northern Bohe- mia. Samples came from the Teplice-Altenberg Volcanic Complex, the Meissen Volcanic Complex, the Chemnitz Basin, the Do ¨hlen Basin, the Brandov-Olbernhau Basin, and the North Saxon Volcanic Complex. The Teplice-Altenberg Volcanic Complex is subdivided into an early Namurian phase (Mikulov Ignimbrite, 326.8 ± 4.3 Ma), thus older than assumed by previous studies, and a late caldera-forming phase (Teplice Ignimbrite, 308.8 ± 4.9 Ma). The age of the latter, however, is not well constrained due to a large popu- lation of inherited zircon and possible hydrothermal over- print. The Leutewitz Ignimbrite, product of an early explosive volcanic episode of the Meissen Volcanic Complex yielded an age of 302.9 ± 2.5 Ma (Stephanian A). Volcanic rocks intercalated in the Brandov-Olbernhau Basin (BOB, 302 ± 2.8 Ma), Chemnitz Basin (CB, 296.6 ± 3.0 Ma), Do ¨hlen Basin (DB, 296 ± 3.0 Ma), and the North Saxon Volcanic Complex (NSVC, c. 300–290 Ma) yielded well- constrained Stephanian to Sakmarian ages. The largest Late Paleozoic ignimbrite-forming eruption in Central Europe, the Rochlitz Ignimbrite, has a well-defined middle Asselian age of 294.4 ± 1.8 Ma. Ages of palingenic zircon revealed that the Namurian-Westphalian magmatism assimilated larger amounts of crystalline basement that formed during previous Paleozoic geodynamic phases. The Precambrian inherited ages support the chronostratigraphic structure assumed for the Saxo-Thuringian Zone of the Variscan Orogen. The present results help to improve the chronostratigraphic allo- cation of the Late Paleozoic volcanic zones in Central Eur- ope. At the same time, the radiometric ages have implications for the interbasinal correlation and for the geodynamic evo- lution of the Variscan Orogeny. Keywords Pyroclastic rocks Á Dykes Á Stratigraphy Á SHRIMP U/Pb ages Á Pb/Pb single zircon age Á Variscides Introduction The formation of Pangea involved several orogenic phases. In central, western, and southeastern Europe, the closure of the Rheic Ocean that separated Gondwana from Laurussia is termed the Variscan Orogeny. Saxo-Thuringia, a struc- tural zone of the Varsican Orogen, was part of the Cado- mian continental crust of Gondwana until the Early Carboniferous. In the course of the collision, the Cadomian basement and Lower Paleozoic units of the Saxo-Thurin- gian Zone were affected by deformation and metamor- phism to differing degrees and became part of the Variscan Orogen. The northern part of the Saxo-Thuringian Zone comprises the Authochthonous Domain, where the U. Hoffmann Á C. Breitkreuz (&) Á K. Stanek TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institut fu ¨r Geologie, Bernhard-von-Cotta-Str. 2, 09596 Freiberg, Germany e-mail: cbreit@geo.tu-freiberg.de K. Breiter Institute of Geology AS CR, v. v. i., Rozvojova ´ 269, 165 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic S. Sergeev Centre of Isotopic Research, VSEGEI, St. Petersburg, Russia M. Tichomirowa TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institut fu ¨r Mineralogie, Brennhausgasse 14, 09596 Freiberg, Germany 123 Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) (2013) 102:73–99 DOI 10.1007/s00531-012-0791-2