The book is written by international team of specialized geoscentists and represents the current knowledge of the evolution of the Variscan Orogen in Central Europe. After a preface, the geotectonic position of the mountain belt within the supercontinent Pangea and the zoning of the orogen is described (Chapter 1). The birth of the Central European Variscides and the role of the Avalonian and Cadomian orogenic processes as forerunners of the Central European Variscides is presented also in Chapter 1. The big building blocks of the Variscan orogen north and south of the Rheic suture are lined out in detail in the main part of the book (Chapters 2 to 18). After the description of the igneous activity in Permo-Carboniferous time (Chapter 19), neotectonic reactivation (Chapter 20), current models for Variscan orogenic processes (Chapter 21) and the zircon data base (Chapter 22) are briefly characterized. A final major section (Chapters 23 to 29) includes geobiological, palaeontological and palaeoenvironmental data including event stratigraphy relevant for Variscan plate tectonics. The book is written for an international readership of professional geoscientists, of students of natural sciences, and of people interested in the formation and geology of Central Europe.
