Granulite-migmatite domes - insight into the Devonian and Carboniferous development of the Variscan belt
We aim to study and compare various aspects that are related to exhumation of deeply buried felsic rocks that form now Devonian and Carboniferous granulite-migmatite domes in the Variscan belt and contributed thus to large-scale crustal differentiation. The role of melting on the rheological weakening of the rocks is known for a long time, but differences of the melting processes of metasedimentary rocks and granitoid rocks, with respect to fluid-present, dehydration and fluid-fluxed melting and relation to the P-T path of the rocks are rarely studied simultaneously. These relations influence when and where melting – and therefore rheological weakening occurs, and how buoyancy changes, and are likely to explain differences in Devonian and Carboniferous orogenic processes in terms of timing and location of the exhumation of granulite-migmatite domes. We already identified granulite-migmatite domes exhumed at different time, with contrasting lithologies, and likely exhibiting contrasting melting processes – which allows such comparative study.