Abstract The solid rock geology of Sweden comprises three principal components: (1) Proterozoic and (locally) Archean rocks belonging to the western part of the Fennoscandian Shield; (2) Phanerozoic and (locally) Neoproterozoic sedimentary cover rocks deposited on top of this ancient crust; and (3) the early to mid-Paleozoic (0.5–0.4 Ga) Caledonide orogen. Earlier compilations have applied different principles for the subdivision of the geology in the Fennoscandian Shield and the Caledonide orogen. A uniform lithotectonic framework has been developed here. Crustal segments affected by orogenesis have been identified and their ages determined by the youngest tectonothermal event. Four ancient mountain belts and six orogenies are preserved. Solid rocks outside the orogens have been assigned to different magmatic complexes or sedimentary successions based on their time of formation and tectonic affiliation. This approach allows relicts of older mountain-building activity to be preserved inside a younger orogen – for example, the effects of the Archean (2.8–2.6 Ga) orogeny inside the 2.0–1.8 Ga Svecokarelian orogen and Paleo–Mesoproterozoic (1.7–1.5 and 1.5–1.4 Ga) mountain-building processes inside the 1.1–0.9 Ga Sveconorwegian orogen. Sweden's five largest mineral districts are addressed in the context of this new lithotectonic framework, which forms the architecture to the contents of the chapters in this Memoir.

Abstract The Blekinge–Bornholm orogen in southeastern Sweden consists of calc-alkaline to alkali–calcic intrusive rocks, rhyolites and dacites (1.8 Ga) that were structurally reworked under amphibolite facies conditions, affected by migmatization at mid-crustal levels at c. 1.44 Ga and intruded at c. 1.47–1.43 Ga by ferroan alkali–calcic plutons. This Mesoproterozoic orogen is bordered westwards by the Sveconorwegian orogen and northwards, along the boundary with well-preserved 1.8 Ga magmatic rocks in the Svecokarelian orogen, by a stitching c. 1.45 Ga pluton and steeply dipping ductile zones with a south-side-up, dip-slip shear component. A variably developed gneissic fabric (S 1 ) dips gently to moderately northwards and is affected by asymmetrical F 2 folds with a southerly vergence. Ductile high-strain zones with top-to-the south shear sense are suggested to correspond at depth to anomalously reflective zones along seismic profile BABEL line A. Open folding of the gneissosity around gently, north-plunging fold axes (F 3 ) completed the ductile deformational evolution. Uncertainty remains about the timing of the amphibolite facies ductile fabric and the D 2 folding, which is either late-stage Svecokarelian ( c. 1.77–1.75 Ga) or Hallandian ( c. 1.47–1.43 Ga). Non-collisional, accretionary orogenic systems are suggested to have operated during both time periods, radical reorganization of the subduction trend accompanying the Mesoproterozoic event.

Abstract Six separate lithotectonic units, referred to from north to south as the Överkalix, Norrbotten, Bothnia–Skellefteå, Ljusdal, Bergslagen and Småland units, are identified inside the western part of the 2.0–1.8 Ga Svecokarelian orogen, Fennoscandian Shield, Sweden. Apart from the boundary between the Norrbotten and Bothnia–Skellefteå lithotectonic units in northern Sweden, which is defined on the basis of a change in crustal basement from Neoarchean (and possibly older) in the NE (Norrbotten) to juvenile Paleoproterozoic crust further south (Bothnia–Skellefteå), all the boundaries are defined by shear zones or combinations of zones that, in places, form broader shear belts up to several tens of kilometres thick. The identification of lithotectonic units provides a necessary foundation for a more detailed synthesis of the tectonic evolution of the 2.0–1.8 Ga orogeny in northern Europe, emphasizing in particular the allochthoneity between most of these units inside this part of the orogen.

Abstract The Fennoscandian transition zone, including the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone, constitutes the weakened and faulted bedrock between a craton, including the ancient continent Baltica to the north, and the boundary between Baltica and Avalonia along the Trans-European Fault Zone to the south. Early Permian subsidence in this transition zone resulted in the development of various basins and the initiation of a more or less continuous Permian–Paleogene depositional cycle. In southwestern Sweden, magmatic activity associated with transtensional deformation along the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone prevailed during the Late Carboniferous–Permian. However, the transition zone is dominated by a Mesozoic sedimentary rock succession displaying both hiatuses and great lateral variability in composition and thickness, which can be related to several tectonic events including the progressive break-up of Pangaea. Much of the deposition took place in continental, coastal and shallow-marine settings. Early–Middle Jurassic block faulting and basanitic or melanephelinitic volcanism, as well as Late Cretaceous tectonic inversion along the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone, related to a changeover to a predominantly compressive tectonic regime coeval with the Alpine orogeny, significantly influenced the depositional setting. Subsequent Paleogene–Neogene regional uplift of the southwestern margin of Baltica resulted in significant erosion of the bedrock.

Abstract To better understand the sediment provenance and exhumation history of Novaya Zemlya’s Mesozoic fold–thrust belt, we apply detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology combined with zircon and apatite fission track analyses to samples from the Precambrian to late Permian siliciclastic successions of the southern and northern islands. The Silurian to early Devonian samples are dominated by zircons (1.14–0.9 Ga) characteristic of the Sveconorwegian Orogen. Zircon fission track ages for individual units are older than their stratigraphic ages and consistent with single-age population distributions. The zircon fission track results document no annealing after deposition and therefore preserve provenance information, which indicates that the source rock(s) of each sample most likely experienced the same thermal event. The results support the erosion and recycling of Sveconorwegian-aged zircon from the Fennoscandian shield during Caledonian orogenesis to the Barents Sea Shelf and Novaya Zemlya. Apatite fission track ages and thermal modelling identify a rapid cooling event at 220–210 Ma, consistent with late Triassic deformation on Novaya Zemlya. Supplemental material: Detrital zircon U–Pb LA-ICP-MS data of samples from Novaya Zemlya, is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3787364

Abstract The Tornquist Fan, reflecting the northern part of the Trans-European Suture Zone, comprises a series of fault zones and major single faults, striking mainly subparallel to the SW margin of the Fennoscandian Shield. The deep-seated faults of Wiek, Nord Jasmund and Schaabe, which cross the northern part of Rügen Island and areas of the adjacent Baltic Sea from NW to SE, originated in the late Paleozoic. They are accompanied by younger faults, especially in the Pomeranian Bay, that were formed by Mesozoic tectonic processes. Based on reprocessed offshore seismic lines east of Rügen, a polyphase evolution for the Wiek Fault System is proposed. It implies changes in the stress field since the Caledonian Orogeny. Crustal extension in the Middle Devonian led to the formation of basins along the SW margin of Laurussia. Subsequent compressional movements, induced by the distant Variscan Orogeny, resulted in segmentation and block faulting of the Rügen Basin prior to the late Carboniferous. These Paleozoic faults were reactivated by Mesozoic extensional stress regimes. In addition, new en echelon faults were generated, contemporaneously with the formation of the Western Pomeranian Fault System. Since the Late Cretaceous (Africa–Iberia–Europe convergence), selected major normal faults have been reactivated as reverse faults.