Provenance of the detrital garnets and spinels from the Albian sediments of the Czorsztyn Unit (Pieniny Klippen Belt, Western Carpathians, Slovakia): According to earlier concepts, the Czorsztyn Unit (Oravic Superunit, Pieniny Klippen Belt, Western Carpathians) sedimented on the isolated Czorsztyn Swell which existed in the Middle Jurassic-Late Cretaceous time in the realm of the Outer Western Carpathians. This paper brings new data providing an alternative interpretation of its Cretaceous evolution. They are based on heavy mineral analysis of the Upper Aptian/Lower Albian sediments of the Czorsztyn Unit. They rest upon a karstified surface after a Hauterivian-Aptian emersion and are represented by condensed, red marly organodetritic limestones with some terrigenous admixture (Chmielowa Formation). The heavy mineral spectrum is dominated by spinels, followed by garnet, with lesser amounts of zircon, rutile and tourmaline. The composition of the majority of the detrital garnets shows that they were derived from primary HP/UHP parental rocks which were recrystallized under granulite and amphibolite facies conditions. The garnets were most probably derived directly from the magmatic and metamorphic rocks of the Oravic basement, as the high-pyrope garnets are known to be abundant in Mesozoic sediments all over the Outer Western Carpathians. The presence of spinels is surprising. According to their chemistry, they were mostly derived from mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORB) peridotites, supra-subduction zone peridotites (harzburgites) and transitional lherzolite/harzburgite types. Only a lesser amount of spinels was derived from volcanics of BABB composition (back-arc basin basalts). The presence of this ophiolitic detritus in the Czorsztyn Unit is difficult to explain. Ophiolitic detritus appeared in the Aptian/Albian time only in the units which were considered to be more distant, because they were situated at the boundary between the Central and the Outer Western Carpathians (Klape Unit, Tatric and Fatric domains). The hypothetical Exotic Ridge which represented an accretionary wedge in front of the overriding Western Carpathian internides was considered to be a source of the clastics. In previous paleogeographical reconstructions, the Czorsztyn Unit was situated north of the Pieniny Trough (considered to be one of the branches of the Penninic-Vahic Ocean). In the trough itself, the ophiolitic detritus appeared as late as in the Senonian and there was no way it could reach the Czorsztyn Swell which was considered to be an isolated elevation. The new results presented herein show that these reconstructions do not fit the obtained data and infer a possibility that the Czorsztyn sedimentary area was not isolated in the Cretaceous time and it was situated closer to the Central Carpathian units than previously thought. A new paleogeographical model of the evolution of the Pieniny Klippen Belt is presented in the paper: Oravic segment was derived from the Moldanubian Zone of the Bohemian Massif by the Middle Jurassic rifting which caused block tilting where most of the Oravic units were arranged north of the Czorsztyn Swell. The Oravic segment was situated in the lateral continuation of the Central and Inner Western Carpathians from which it was detached by later clockwise rotation. The Oravic segment was then laterally shifted in front of the Central Western Carpathians, together with remnants of the Meliatic suture zone which represented a source for the exotics to the Klape, Tatric, Fatric and Oravic units.

The provenance of the Proč and Strihovce sandstones is crucial for understanding the relationship between the Pieniny Klippen (PKB) and Flysch (FB) belts in the easternmost part of the Western Carpathian realm. Detrital Cr-spinels in these tectonic units were assertively interpreted as sourced from the southern sources representing the Meliata mélange. In this study, we use the geochemistry of detrital chromian spinels to identify the mafic and ultramafic source of the sediments and to compare them each other. Simultaneously, we compare their chemical compositions with those from the different Western Carpathian geological units, which could feed the Proč and Krynica basins during the Paleogene, where the Proč and Strihovce formations (fms), respectively, were deposited. Chromian spinels from the Proč and Strihovce fms exhibit similar geochemical characteristics (Cr# = 0.44–0.88 and 0.29–0.89, Mg# = 0.17–0.68 and 0.2–0.72, TiO₂ = 0.0–3.67 and 0.01–2.08 wt.%, respectively). The spinels show both supra-subduction zone (SSZ) peridotite signatures and volcanic origin. Whereas volcanic spinels from the Proč Formation (Fm.) were formed under an ocean island basalt (OIB) and back-arc basin basalt (BABB) geodynamic setting, those from the Strihovce Fm. suggest a predominantly mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) origin. To avoid mistakes in the provenance interpretations, the data from garnet geochemistry of both formations is supplied. The analysed Cr-spinels do not absolutely overlap with spinels reported from the Meliata Unit, and their composition indicates at least two independent sources.

The article presents the first description of a complete and continuous series from berthierite to garavellite sulphosalts in the Western Carpathians. Berthierite is a common main or accessory phase of Sb mineralizations in the Western Carpathians, and occurs at many localities and ore deposits as well. On the other side, garavellite or Bi-rich berthierite is a relatively rare accessory phase. The highest Bi content in garavellite reaches up to 38.04 wt. % which represents 0.90 apfu, and its crystallochemical formula can be written as Fe_0.97Sb_1.07Bi_0.90S_3.98. Raman band shifts were observed in the isomorphic berthierite–garavellite series. Garavellite occurs in the younger stages of sulphidic mineralization, and associates with tetrahedrite, berthierite, Bi-chalcostibite, Sb-bismuthinite, Bi-stibnite, ullmanite and cinnabarite. It creates irregular grains and veinlets in pre-existing tetrahedrite, or forms myrmekite intergrowths with chalcopyrite in tetrahedrite. Bi content in chalcostibite is up to 0.20 apfu. Besides the tetrahedrite, pre-existing sulphosalts are the members of the tintinaite–kobellite series, Bi-jamesonite and bournonite. The Sb/(Sb+Bi) ratio of minerals of the tintinaite–kobellite series varies from 0.37 to 0.80. The maximum content of Bi in jamesonite is up to 1.22 apfu. A vertical zonation at the ore vein body (mining levels 6 / 180 a.s.l., 8 / 80 a.s.l., 10 / 20 b.s.l.) is represented by the Sb decrease along with the Bi increase with increasing depth. Bi content continuously decreases during the older ore mineralization stage and Sb increases at the younger mineralization stage. Both of the stages have been enriched by Sb as well.

An occurrence of vein U-Mo mineralization is located in the Majerská valley near Čučma, about 7 km to the NNE of the district town of Rožňava (Eastern Slovakia). Mineralization is hosted in the acidic metapyroclastics of the Silurian Bystrý Potok Fm. (Gemeric Unit), and originated in the following stages: (I.) quartz I, fluorapatite I; (II.) quartz II, fluorapatite II, zircon, rutile chlorite, tourmaline; (III.) uraninite, molybdenite, U-Ti oxides; (IV.) pyrite I, ullmannite, gersdorffite, cobaltite; (Va.) galena, bismuth, tetradymite, joséite A and B, Bi₃(TeS)₂ mineral phase, (BiPb)(TeS) mineral phase, ikunolite; (Vb.) minerals of the kobellite–tintinaite series, cosalite; (VI.) pyrite II; (VII.) titanite, chlorite; and (VIII.) supergene mineral phases. The chemical in-situ electron-microprobe U-Pb dating of uraninite from a studied vein yielded an average age of around 265 Ma, corresponding to the Guadalupian Epoch of Permian; the obtained data corresponds with the age of Gemeric S-type granites. The age correlation of uraninite with the Gemeric S-type granites and the spatial connection of the studied mineralization with the Čučma granite allows us to assume that it is a Hercynian, granite-related (perigranitic) mineralization.