Preface

Abstract

The HP rocks are integral to all crustal massifs of the European Variscan Belt. However, their lithology and quantity, as well as the metamorphic characteristics of their surrounding rocks, vary when one compares the eastern sector of the belt (the Bohemian Massif, Schwarzwald, and Vosges) with the western sector (the Iberian and Armorican Massifs and the French Massif Central). A discontinuous oceanic suture with ophiolites and eclogites of MORB affinity begins in the Galician and continues through the Ligerian or southern Brittany, the French Massif Central to the northwest along the boundary between the Saxothuringian and Moldanubian Zones. Eclogites are common in all massifs, but blueschists and blueschist facies rocks are exposed in the Iberian, Armorican, and Bohemian Massifs. In many cases, they occur adjacent to greenschist-amphibolite facies metasediments that may contain relics of blueschist/eclogite facies metamorphism. The Bohemian Massif, which represents the most complex segment of the European Variscan Belt, exposes well-preserved HP/UHP lithologies, allowing us to decipher the relationships between different units and to localize possible Variscan sutures. In addition to low-to-medium temperature (LTMT) eclogites in various units, this massif is characterized by the presence of a high number of HT eclogites and ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) UHP garnet peridotites and garnet pyroxenites that occur within HP felsic granulites and migmatites.