The Elbe Zone northeast of the Erzgebirge is an example of the complex architecture of Saxo-Thuringia of the Central European Variscides. Here, low grade lithologies of the Elbtalschiefergebirge preserve the record of Devonian to Early Carboniferous marine sedimentation, which occurred contemporaneously with prolonged subduction-accretion-exhumation tectonics of the Erzgebirge nappe pile. Today, both juxtaposed units are separated by the Mid-Saxon Fault Zone.
Based on tectonic field studies and microstructural investigations, we present a tectonic model for the Elbtalschiefergebirge as follows. As part of the SE-Wrench and Thrust Zone (WTZ), the lithologies of the Elbtalschiefergebirge originated at the passive continental margin of the Gondwana plate eventually affected by the Variscan orogeny. Until the Middle Devonian, the WTZ and the adjacent Autochthonous Domain share a similar geological record of a continuous sedimentation on the inner Peri-Gondwana shelf. Syn-collisional strike slip tectonics of the evolving WTZ started in the Late Devonian separating the Autochthonous Domain and the evolving nappe stack of the Allochthonous Domain northwest and southeast respectively. Differentiation of the WTZ begins with the onset of Late Devonian submarine magmatism and shallow to deep-water sedimentation. The deep-water sediments probably express the start of accretionary tectonics southwest of the Cadomian Lausitz block. Ongoing convergence in the Early Carboniferous resulted in nappe stacking and low-grade metamorphism. Early Carboniferous synorogenic sedimentation of Late Devonian cherts reveals ongoing accretion-exhumation tectonics at this part of the WTZ. Final (N)NW-(S)SE compression is related to the final juxtaposition with the Erzgebirge utilizing the Mid-Saxon Fault Zone.