The nature and geological history of the deep crust under the Eifel, Germany |
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| Authors: | H-G Stosch A Schmucker Ch Reys |
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| Institution: | Mineralogisch-Petrographisches Institut der Universität zu Köln Zälpicher Str. 49, W-5000 Köln 1, Germany |
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| Abstract: | The crust ≈ 10–20 km under the Eifel is composed of amphibolite-facies metasediments and meta-igneous rocks of tonalitic to granodioritic composition; mafic granulites occupy the base of the crust down to a Moho depth between about 29 and 34 km. The meta-granodiorites and meta-tonalites have I-type chemical characteristics and appear to have formed approximately 400 Myr ago by partial melting of a lower crustal source. Amphibolite-facies metamorphism probably followed within the same orogeny. During the Quaternary, many amphibolite-facies rocks were subjected to contact heating in crustal magma chambers and/or during transport to the earth's surface. Contact heating is also recorded in radiogenic isotope compositions of minerals from one xenolith. A genetic link between meta-igneous amphibolites and the deeper crustal mafic granulites can neither be proven nor discounted by the isotope data. If there is a genetic relationship, it requires fractionation of a mafic magma in the lower crust and assimilation of metasediments and separation of a highly evolved melt. |
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