The Oman ophiolite as a Cretaceous arc-basin complex: evidence and implications

Pearce, Julian A., Alabaster, T., Shelton, A. W. and Searle, M. P. 1981. The Oman ophiolite as a Cretaceous arc-basin complex: evidence and implications. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 300 (1454) , pp. 299-317. 10.1098/rsta.1981.0066

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Abstract

Geological and geochemical evidence suggest that the Oman ophiolite is a fragment of a submarine arc-basin complex formed above a short-lived subduction zone in the mid-Cretaceous. Detailed studies of the lava stratigraphy and the intrusive relationships of dykes, sills and high-level plutons provide further evidence for the magmatic and tectonic development of the complex in question. Four consecutive events can be recognized to have taken place before emplacement: (1) eruption of basalts of island arc affinity onto pre-existing (Triassic) oceanic crust; (2) creation of new oceanic crust by back-arc spreading; (3) intrusion of magma into this back-arc oceanic crust accompanied by eruption of basalts and andesites from discrete volcanic centres; (4) further intrusion of magma accompanied by uplift and eruption of basalts and rhyolites in submarine graben. A combined structural and geochemical analysis of the dyke swarm indicates that extension took place in approximately a N-S (ridge) and an ESE-WNW (leaky transform) direction relative to an inferred direction of subduction to the NE, and that a small but significant proportion of the sheeted dykes were injected during the 'arc' rather than the earlier 'back-arc spreading' episode. These various observations can be explained in terms of the progressive response of a non-isotropic lithosphere to the stresses induced during subduction.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QE Geology
Publisher:	The Royal Society
ISSN:	1364-503X
Last Modified:	04 Jun 2017 02:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/8586

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