Large parts of central Europe experienced exhumation in Late Cretaceous to Paleogene time. Previous studies mainly focused on thrusted basement uplifts to unravel the magnitude, processes and timing of exhumation. This study provides, for the first time, a comprehensive thermochronological dataset from mostly Permo-Triassic strata exposed adjacent to and between the basement uplifts in central Germany, comprising an area of at least some 250–300 km across. Results of apatite fission-track and (U–Th) $/$ He analyses on > 100 new samples reveal that (i) kilometre-scale exhumation affected the entire region, (ii) thrusting of basement blocks like the Harz Mountains and the Thuringian Forest focused in the Late Cretaceous (about 90–70 Ma), while superimposed domal uplift of central Germany is slightly younger (about 75–55 Ma), and (iii) large parts of the domal uplift experienced removal of 3 to 4 km of Mesozoic strata. Using spatial extent, magnitude and timing as constraints suggests that thrusting and crustal thickening alone can account for no more than half of the domal uplift. Most likely, dynamic topography caused by upwelling asthenosphere significantly contributed to the observed pattern of exhumation in central Germany.

中文翻译：

---

中欧白垩纪晚期至古近纪发掘-局部倒转与大尺度隆升

欧洲中部大部分地区在白垩纪晚期至古近纪时期发掘了尸体。先前的研究主要集中在地下基底的隆升上，以揭示尸体挖掘的大小，过程和时间。这项研究首次提供了一个综合的热年代学数据集，该数据集来自德国中部基底隆起附近和之间暴露的绝大部分Permo-Triassic地层，覆盖范围至少约250-300 km。磷灰石裂变径迹和（U–Th）的结果 $/$ 他分析了>  100个新样本显示，（我）千米级折返影响到整个地区，（二）地下室块像哈尔茨山脉和图林根森林的助推集中在晚白垩世（约90-70马），而德国中部的叠加的末次隆起稍年轻（大约75-55 Ma），并且（iii）大部分的末期隆起经历了中生代地层3-4 km的去除。用空间范围，大小和时间作为约束条件表明，仅冲断作用和地壳增厚就不能构成半球形隆升的一半。由软流圈上升引起的动态地形最有可能导致了德国中部观察到的尸体挖掘活动。