Mid-German Crystalline High

The Mid-German Crystalline High crops out in the Odenwald, the Spessart, the northern Vosges and some small other massifs.

The Mid-German Crystalline High forms the northern part of the Saxothuringian Zone of the Hercynian orogeny.

Southeast of the Mid-German High lies a zone where early to mid-Paleozoic sediments of the Saxothuringian Basin crop out, metamorphosed during the Hercynian orogeny.

Some authors assume the northern basin's oceanic crust subducted beneath the Mid-German High.

[1] The zone consists of Proterozoic orthogneisses and early Paleozoic volcanic (amphibolites with MORB-protoliths and tuffs) and sedimentary (pelites, calcareous schists and marbles) rocks that were metamorphosed at high grade during the Hercynian orogeny (up to amphibolite facies).

Structural map of central Europe, showing the positions of the Hercynian massifs and the zones in which the basement rocks can be divided.