Detrital glaucophane in graywackes of the Rhenohercynian Harz mountains and the geodynamic implications

Detrital blue amphibole was found for the first time in two samples of the Famennian section of the South Harz-Selke Graywacke and the Tanne Graywacke (Middle Visean) of the Harz Mountains. Microprobe analyses reveal that the blue amphiboles represent glaucophane with Fe³⁺/(Fe³⁺+Al^VI)=0.22 molar ratio. The minimum pressure required for the formation of glaucophane of this composition is estimated to be approximately 8 kbar. The source area of the detrital glaucophane is assumed to be located between the Northern Phyllite Zone and the Mid-German Crystalline Rise, in areas which have been downfaulted (?subducted) during the Variscan orogeny. The age of blueschist-facies metamorphism in the source area must be of pre-Upper Devonian age. This metamorphic event is significantly older than the Lower Carboniferous high-pressure/low-temperature metamorphism documented in parts of the northern Phyllite zone. Hence, the convergent tectonics connected with blueschist-facies metamorphism is not restricted to the Lower Carboniferous, but can be traced back at least to the early Upper Devonian. These data are in accordance with a southerly directed underplating (?subduction) at the northern margin of the Saxothuringian zone active during at least from early Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous.