Abstract
The Mariánské Lázně Complex (MLC), an eclogite-bearing metaophiolite, is an important petrotectonic element in the Variscan of central Europe, providing evidence for the birth and death of an early Paleozoic ocean. The MLC is a SEdipping, allochthonous body, which is located along a major tectonic boundary between Saxothuringia and Bohemia (Tepla-Barrandia) in the northwestern part of the Czech Republic (Fig. 1).
It represents the largest area of metabasic rocks in the Bohemian Massif, underlying an area of ~225 km2, and is thought to be correlative with eclogitic units in the allochthonous Münchberg Massif (MM) in Saxothuringia and the Erbendorf body in the Zone of Erbendorf-Vohenstrauss (ZEV) to the west in Germany (Fig. 1; Beard et al., 1995; Hirschmann, 1996; O'Brien et al., 1992).