The Variscan Orogen of Central Europe

Ulf Linnemann is Head of Department of the Museum of Mineralogy and Geology of the Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden (SNSD), where he has been since 1996, and Full University Professor of Geology at the Technical University of Dresden (TUD). He is founder and leader of the Geochronology Section (GeoPlasmaLab) at SNSD. Linnemann obtained his first degree from the Institute of Geology at the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg in 1986, and his Ph.D. from the same institution in 1990. As a research fellow he worked at the Institute of Soil and Site (Tharandt, TUD, 1990-93) and at the Institute of Geosciences (Friedrich-Schiller University, 1993-96). He earned his Habilitation in 2008 at TUD. In 2009 Ulf Linnemann managed the transfer of the Museum of Mineralogy and Geology Dresden into the Senckenberg Society of Natural Research and the establishment of the institution as a member of the Leibniz Association. Ulf Linnemann was leader of the IGCP 497 “The Rheic Ocean: Origin, Evolution, and Significance (2004-2009). His main research interests are provenance analysis, especially through U–Pb-dating and Hf-Isotope signatures of detrital and magmatic zircon, and the application of basin analysis and plate tectonics to orogenic processes, especially in the Avalonian–Cadomian belts of northern Gondwana and their incorporation into the Alleghanian-Variscan orogen. His work outside Europe is focused on the Precambrian and Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Namibia, Morocco, Mauretania, and other regions in Africa.