Heat sources and trigger mechanisms of exhumation of HP granulites in Variscan orogenic root

Abstract

AbstractThe structure of the Moldanubian domain is marked by felsic granulites of Ordovician protolith age forming the cores of domes that are separated from mid‐crustal Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic metasedimentary rocks that occur in synclines by a late Ordovician to Silurian metabasic unit. Reflection and refraction seismic sections combined with gravity inversion modelling suggest the presence of a low density layer at the bottom of the crust (interpreted as felsic granulite) overlain by a denser layer (interpreted as amphibolite) with layers of intermediate density at the top (interpreted as metasedimentary rocks). It is proposed that the granulite domes surrounded by middle crustal rocks reflect transposed horizontal layering originally similar to that preserved in the deep crust and imaged by the geophysical surveys. This geological and geophysical structure is considered to be a result of Viséan gravity redistribution initiated by radioactive heating of felsic crust tectonically emplaced at the bottom of a Palaeozoic orogenic root. The radioactive layer with heat production of 4 μW m−3 corresponds geochemically and isotopically to Ordovician felsic metaigneous rocks of the Saxothuringian domain that have been emplaced at Moho depth under thickened crust during late Devonian–early Carboniferous continental subduction. Part of the continental crust continued to be subducted and produced fluids/low‐volume melts which directly contaminated and enriched the local lithospheric mantle by lithophile elements, most notably Cs, Rb, Li, Pb, U, Th and K. Thermal incubation of 10–15 Myr was sufficient to heat and convert the underplated felsic layer into granulites via dehydration melting and melt segregation. The process of melt loss was responsible for the removal of radioactive elements and for switching off the heat at the beginning of the exhumation process. At the same time, the metasomatized underlying mantle was heated producing characteristic ultrapotassic magmas. Gravitational instability was then induced by the density contrast between the light granulites and the overlaying denser mafic lower crustal layer and a viscosity drop related to thermal weakening and partial melting of the latter.