Trans-European Suture Zone
The Trans-European Suture Zone, also known as the Tornquist Zone, is the crustal boundary between the Precambrian East European Craton and the Phanerozoic orogens of South-Western Europe. The zone runs from the North Sea to the Black Sea. The north-western part of the zone was created by the collision of Avalonia and Baltica/East European Craton in the Late Ordovician. The south-eastern part of the zone, now largely concealed by deep sedimentary basins, developed through Variscan and Alpine orogenic events.
Various branches of the TESZ go under different names:
- The Teisseyre-Tornquist Zone in Ukraine and Poland.
- The Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone through Scania, Kattegat, and North Jutland.
- The Trans-European Fault, Thor-Tornquist Suture or Thor Suture through southern Denmark.
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 mapped the continuation of the zone from Poland to Scania in Sweden.Tornquist Fan
Whereas the south-eastern part of the TESZ is relatively well-confined, the north-western part divides into numerous sutures and faults, which fan out towards the North Sea and the Iapetus Suture which runs between the Scandinavian and Scottish Caledonides. It includes the following linear features :- The Fennoscandian Border Zone in Skagen and Kattegat
- The Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone, including many parallel horsts in Scania. This zone experienced extension in the Jurassic. In association to this event numerous monogenetic volcanoes sprang up in Central Scania.
- Ringkøbing-Fyn High
- Caledonian Deformation Front
- Trans-European Fault