The Sauwald and Muhl zones of the pre-batholithic, Moldanubian, middle crust in northern Austria contain metapelites and metaluminous to weakly peraluminous metagreywackes, respectively. Both zones were affected by low-pressure, high-temperature metamorphism and anatexis. The metapelites of the Sauwald zone became in-situ diatexites, probably by fluid-absent reactions involving the breakdown of muscovite and the partial breakdown of biotite. The biotite-plagioclase-quartz gneisses of the Muhl zone experienced only slight melting. Following this event, and while the mid crust was still hot, additional heat was locally advected into the Muhl zone by the intrusion of the Weinsberg granite. This brought about fluid-present partial melting of the biotite-plagioclase-quartz gneisses, producing relatively large volumes of metaluminous to weakly peraluminous, I-type Schlieren granite. This cool, wet, restite-rich magma remained close to its site of generation. Thus, infracrustal I-type granitoids may be formed anywhere in the crust, and not always at high T. Under special circumstances the heat and fluids from granitic magmas can spawn ''secondary'' granites. Also, relatively low initial Sr-87/Sr-86 values (of around 0.707) in I-type rocks do not necessarily indicate either lower crustal magma sources or mixing with mantle-derived magma. The Weinsberg granite magma came from the lower crust (P probably < 700 MPa), where widespread fluid-absent breakdown of biotite-plagioclase-quartz assemblages occurred. The necessary high heat flow was probably provided by newly underplated mafic magmas. However, these seem not to have mixed or mingled with the crustally derived Weinsberg magmas. Deep equivalents of the Muhl-zone metagreywackes may have formed the Weinsberg protolith. Fluid-absent experiments show that the melting temperature probably exceeded 850 degrees C and that a garnet-bearing, orthopyroxene-rich residue should be present in the lower crust. Fluid-present experiments demonstrate that the availability of free H2O can radically alter the characteristics of the partial melts, from apparent S-type mineralogy (with fluid-absent melting) to I-type mineralogy (with wet melting).
