Contrasting modes of ophiolite emplacement in the Eastern Mediterranean region

Abstract

Abstract The Eastern Mediterranean region is characterized by one of the largest concentrations of ophiolites anywhere in the world. Many of these ophiolites are fragmentary or highly deformed, such that their initial mode of tectonic emplacement cannot easily be inferred from the local field relations. The emplacement of many of these ophiolites can usefully be compared with the intact Oman ophiolite, one of the largest and best-studied ophiolites in the world. The Oman ophiolite is commonly believed to have been created in Late Cretaceous time (c. 95 Ma) above an oceanward-dipping, intra-oceanic subduction zone. This was followed by collision of the subduction zone with the downflexed Arabian passive margin, facilitating the emplacement of the ophiolite onto the continental margin. A less likely alternative is that the Oman ophiolite formed at a mid-ocean ridge that then collapsed, initiating the emplacement of the ophiolite. An Oman-type model is applicable to many of the Mid-Jurassic and the Late Cretaceous ophiolites of the Eastern Mediterranean region that were thrust over former passive continental margins. These ophiolites are again mainly of suprasubduction-zone type. Such ophiolites include many of the Jurassic ophiolites of Greece, Albania and former Yugoslavia, and also the Late Cretaceous ophiolites of Turkey and northern Syria. These ophiolites were emplaced from both more northerly and southerly Neotethyan ocean basins. In contrast, the opposing (northerly) margins of these oceanic basins experienced a history of subduction-accretion, marginal arc volcanism and back-arc basin formation ('Cordilleran-type' ophiolites). Ophiolites that were emplaced associated with active margin settings range from large accreted thrust sheets to small slices within accretionary prisms and back-arc basins. Examples include the Late Cretaceous ophiolites that are related both to the northern margin of the southern Neotethys and to the northern margin of the northern Neotethys in Turkey. Not all ophiolites were emplaced in response to large-scale horizontal tectonic transport (e.g. Jurassic Guevgueli ophiolite, northern Greece), and several ophiolites experienced dominantly strike-slip or transpression (e.g. the Late Cretaceous Antalya ophiolites, SW Turkey). In general, the mode of ophiolite emplacement, especially the direction of emplacement relative to the orientation of the adjacent continental margin was influenced by the regional palaeogeographical setting.