GRANULITE-FACIES METABASITE EJECTA IN THE LAACHER SEE AREA, EIFEL, WEST-GERMANY

Near the village of Engeln, Laacher See area, garnet-bearing pyriclasite and pyribolite ejecta were recognized as constituents of alkaline basaltic tuffs; they are interpreted as fragments of the lowermost crust. During the first main stage of granulite facies metamorphism, assemblages with garnet (Alm47Pyr34Spess2Gross + Andr17), clinopyroxene (Wo37En35Fs15Ts8.5Jd4.5), orthopyroxene I (En34Fs38Ts4Jd2), and plagioclase I (An40-An60) were formed in a temperature range of 730-850°C and rock pressures somewhere between 6.5 and 12 kb, Ptot > PH2O > 0. The rare sulfate-rich meionite, and at least a part of the ubiquitous brown hornblende were presumably also formed during this stage. A retrograde metamorphic event under slightly lower pressures and temperatures led to the breakdown of the assemblage garnet + clinopyroxene thereby forming coronas of plagioclase II (An75) + orthopyroxene II + Ti-magnetite ± brown hornblende. © 1979.