The Saxonian Granulites: a metamorphic core complex?

The brachyanticlinal structure of the Saxonian Granulite Complex was formed, or at least overprinted, by large-scale crustal extension, which is documented in an extreme reduction of the metamorphic profile and a pressure-temperature path with nearly isothermal decompression. the granulite is situated within a south-west-northeast trending belt characterized by basaltic volcanism and an intrabasinal, sediment-producing rise, both active in Frasnian times. These features are taken to reflect at least part of the extension which has exhumed the high grade rocks; however, Cambro-Ordovician rifting possibly initiated the process. The Frasnian palaeogeography and geophysical data suggest that the axis of the granulite dome extends at least 150 km towards the south-west. The overall setting strongly resembles the metamorphic core complexes of the western USA, but the exhumation of rocks preserving evidence of metamorphic pressures of 10–12 kbar requires much higher extensional strain, possibly due to the longer period of stretching. Early Carboniferous compression and minor post-collisional extension (Late Carboniferous to Permian) have not significantly modified the earlier geometry. U-Pb and Sm-Nd data ranging between 380 and 340 Ma are interpreted to record retrogression during uplift rather than peak metamorphism.