Le volcanisme alcalin du sud-ouest de chypre et le probleme de l'ouverture des regions tethysiennes au trias

Abstract

An important volcanism of Late Triassic age is known from SW Cyprus. It occurs in the Mamonia nappe system emplaced during the Late Maastrichtian. Three main volcanic episodes interbedded with detrital and pelagic sediments can be seen from the base to the top: 1. (1) pyroclastic rocks (breccias, tuffs) associated with coarse-grained sandstone, suggesting explosive eruptions in grabens 2. (2) basaltic or andesitic pillowed flows, interbedded first with fine-grained sandstone and small Halobia limestone strata, then with pelagic limestones and radiolarian red cherts 3. (3) columnar trachyte flows. The whole volcanic series belongs to a very differenciated sodic suite with high titanium contents. The Mamonia lavas are very similar to the Afar volcanics and can be considered as belonging to an interplate volcanism in a rift system. This alkaline basaltic suite is found in many places of the East Mediterranean Alpine orogenic domain, especially in the Antalya nappes (South Turkey) and in the Baer-Bassit (Syria). In Greece, a similar volcanism has been noticed (Othrys—Pindos). In Italy there exists a Middle or Late Triassic volcanism with alkaline affinities. Therefore, this Late Triassic magmatism, which is widespread in the whole Mediterranean Alpine region and always in tectonic association with ophiolites, has a very great paleogeographic significance. We thus propose the existence of a rift system associated with an alkaline basaltic suite along the northern edge of the African plate during Norian—Carnian times. Afterwards a mid-oceanic ridge would have been formed during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. To explain this evolution two hypotheses can be proposed: 1. (1) A single mid-Tethysian ridge existed and all the ophiolites (Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, the ‘croissant ophiolitique peri-arabe’) have been thrust from the same area. 2. (2) A marginal sea existed along the mid-Tethysian ridge north of the African plate but separated from the Tethys by a carbonate shelf, where, after the Triassic events, oceanization began with slightly different ophiolites (a large sheeted complex, low-K tholeiites with some calc-alkaline affinities). Therefore, Troodos, Hatay, Zagros and Oman would not have come from the main ophiolite zone present further north, but from a marginal ocean, now obducted on the African plate. We think that the second hypothesis is more reasonable because the Upper Cretaceous sedimentary cover (Kannaviou Formation) of the Troodos is very similar to the detritic formation present in South Turkey (Kastel Formation) which is known to grade to shelf carbonates belonging to the Arabian plate towards the south.