Abstract Late Carboniferous-Early Mesozoic exhumation of southern Sweden has previously been traced using apatite fission-track thermochronology. In addition, the morphotectonic development of the region has been studied using geomorphology. The aim of this study is to attain further knowledge of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic thermotectonic development of southern Sweden by integrating results from these methods. Well-dated re-exposed palaeosurfaces and sedimentary records in the surrounding areas were used as constraints in the modelling of apatite fission-track data from the Precambrian basement. The obtained modelled thermal histories suggest that southern Sweden can be divided into three main tectonic areas associated with different cooling histories. In Triassic and Jurassic time, low to moderate exhumation in the central part was accompanied by more rapid exhumation in the SE and NW. Additionally, individual block movements may have occurred in the NW. It has also been possible to estimate the heating effect of renewed Cretaceous-Paleogene burial to 20-35 °C on the west and SE coasts. Final Cenozoic unroofing of the basement is indicated by the modelled thermal histories. Areas around the southern tip of Lake Vättern together with the SE coast experienced the most pronounced exhumation compared with the surrounding parts.

Abstract Different parts of a Tonian–Early Devonian sedimentary succession, covering Proterozoic crystalline basement, occur along the erosional front to the Caledonide orogen, as outliers and coastal strips on land, and as more continuous strata in offshore areas. Rift-related Tonian–Cryogenian siliciclastic sedimentation preceded the break-up of the supercontinent Rodinia, the birth of Baltica and surrounding oceanic realms during the Ediacaran, and a marine transgression across Baltica during the Cambrian. An Ediacaran alkaline and carbonatite intrusive complex in central Sweden formed in connection with the extensional activity. Subsequently, during the Cambrian–Early Devonian, Baltica drifted northwards in the southern hemisphere to the equator, and six different lithofacies associations containing both siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentation were deposited in platformal shelf and Caledonian foreland basin settings. Bentonites in Ordovician and early Silurian successions were coupled to closure of the surrounding oceanic realms. Tectonic processes during the Caledonian orogeny around the margins to Baltica, the distance to different crustal components in this continent and climatic changes steered variations in lithofacies. Resultant fluctuations in sea-level gave rise to hiatuses and palaeo-karsts. Uranium and other metals in kerogen-rich black shales (Cambrian–Early Ordovician), hydrocarbons, stratabound Pb–Zn sulphide deposits in Cambrian (–Ediacaran?) sandstone, and limestone constitute the main resources.

Abstract The Eastern Segment in the Sveconorwegian orogen comprises Paleoproterozoic–Mesoproterozoic magmatic suites, which formed along an active continental margin, and Mesoproterozoic suites emplaced during intracratonic extension. Zn–Pb sulphide and Fe oxide mineralizations in 1.9 Ga metavolcanic rocks form a significant mineral resource cluster in the northeastern part. Deformation and metamorphism under low-pressure (≤5 kbar) and variable-temperature conditions, including anatexis and granulite facies, prevailed during 1.9–1.8 Ga (Svecokarelian) and 1.5–1.4 Ga (Hallandian) accretionary orogenies. Sveconorwegian tectonothermal reworking initiated at c. 0.99–0.98 Ga in structurally lower levels. Crustal shortening, underthrusting with eclogite facies metamorphism (18 kbar), exhumation by eastwards thrusting (D 1 ) during continued shortening and high-pressure granulite (8–12 kbar) to upper amphibolite facies metamorphism prevailed. Anatexis and folding around east–west axial surfaces with west-northwesterly constrictional strain (D 2 ) followed at c. 0.98–0.95 Ga, being consanguineous with crustal extension. Structurally higher levels, northwards and eastwards, consist of high-pressure (10–12 kbar) orthogneisses, not affected by anatexis but also showing polyphase deformation. Sveconorwegian convergence ceased with upright folding along north–south axial surfaces and, in the uppermost frontal part, greenschist facies shearing with top-to-the-foreland normal followed by reverse displacement after 0.95 Ga. The normal shearing detached the upper compartment from the underlying gneisses.