Emplacement of Semail–Emirates ophiolite at ridge–trench collision

Abstract

AbstractThe Oman‐Emirates is the largest and best‐exposed ophiolite; consequently, it has attracted significant interest among scientists, together with serious conflicts. Most geologists regard this ophiolite as having formed in an intra‐oceanic subduction zone before being accreted to the Arabian continent. Here, we propose an alternative scenario, supported by detailed field observations and integrated geophysics. The smaller Emirates part of the ophiolite was forced into a nearby continent, in the pre‐collision stage of Tethyan closure. The contraction led to the exhumation of the mantle floor of segmented basins accreted in a rifted system similar to the present‐day Gulf of California. The implied high temperature–high pressure metamorphism and the range of geochemical signatures were introduced during the process of rifting, whereas the larger Oman ophiolite was emplaced by obduction onto and along the subducting continental shore. This Ridge–Trench–Transform system might call for a new process to obduct over continents in particular Tethyan ophiolites.