Petrology and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of some hellenic sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks

Whole rock, electron microprobe analyses and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of certain ophioliterelated metamorphic rocks from beneath the Pindos, Vourinos, Othris and Euboea ophiolites of Greece show that they were formed mainly from ocean-type basalts, in part under P-T conditions of the upper mantle and that they have ages between 170–180 m.y. The evidence presented is inconsistent with the view that these sub-ophiolite metamorphic rocks were produced by the obduction of ocean-type crust onto a continental margin, or that they are remnant slices of Palaeozoic ‘basement’, but is consistent with their formation by thrusting and related metamorphism occurring within ocean lithosphere during the Lower to Middle Jurassic. It is proposed that this intraoceanic metamorphism was caused by the inception of a fault zone which subsequently became the transport surface for the main phase of ophiolite emplacement that occurred in the Hellenides from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous.