Ocean floor basalt, not continental gabbro: a reinterpretation of the Hoher Bogen amphibolites, Teplá-Barrandian, Bohemian massif

Abstract

At its southern margin along the Hoher Bogen mountain, the Teplá-Barrandian (Bohemian massif, Central Europe) is made up of a 1- to 4-km wide belt of amphibolites. An upper amphibolite/lower granulite facies Variscan metamorphism has brought forth coarse-grained, weakly foliated rocks with hbl+pl±cpx±opx±grt parageneses. Since the beginning of this century, these rocks, together with fine-grained or mylonitized amphibolites, have been regarded as metamorphic gabbros (gabbro amphibolites) of the Neukirchen-Kdyne igneous complex. Relics of magmatic textures, however, cannot be found anywhere. The amphibolites are therefore reinterpreted as metamorphic basalts. The Hoher Bogen amphibolites (HBA) derive from N-type MORB. The most primitive samples have Mg#s between 60 and 65. Locally occurring (garnet-)hornblendites and leucodioritic mobilisates are the products of partial melting of amphibolites during the Variscan metamorphism and do not belong to the primary magmatic rock association. Ultramafic rocks are tectonically emplaced between the HBA belt and the metapelitic rocks of the Moldanubian. At the very least, the metapyroxenites among them seem to have a cumulus origin. Together with the ultramafic rocks, the HBA belt may be regarded as a metaophiolite, comparable to the Mariánské Lazne complex. The reinterpretation of the former "gabbro amphibolites" as a metaophiolite has consequences for the geology of the Teplá-Barrandian: the size of the Neukirchen-Kdyne igneous complex is reduced. The HBA belt is a piece of oceanic crust which is possibly younger than the Precambrian metasedimentary/metavolcanic country rock of the Neukirchen-Kdyne igneous complex.