The age, origin and emplacement of the Tsiknias Ophiolite, Tinos, Greece
Date
20/01/2020Author
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Abstract
The Tsiknias Ophiolite, exposed at the highest structural levels of Tinos, Greece, represents a thrust sheet of Tethyan oceanic crust and upper mantle emplaced onto the Attic-Cycladic Massif. We present new field observations and a new geological map of Tinos, integrated with petrology, THERMOCALC phase diagram modelling, U-Pb geochronology and whole rock geochemistry, resulting in a tectono-thermal model that describes the formation and emplacement of the Tsiknias Ophiolite and newly identified underlying metamorphic sole. The ophiolite comprises a succession of partially dismembered and structurally repeated ultramafic and gabbroic rocks that represent the Moho Transition Zone. A plagiogranite dated by U-Pb zircon at 161.9 ± 2.8 Ma, reveals that the Tsiknias Ophiolite formed in a supra-subduction zone setting, comparable to the "East-Vardar Ophiolites", and was intruded by gabbros at 144.4 ± 5.6 Ma. Strongly sheared metamorphic sole rocks show a condensed and inverted metamorphic gradient, from partially anatectic amphibolites at P-T conditions of ca. 8.5 kbar 850-600 °C, down-structural section to greenschist-facies oceanic metasediments over ~250 m. Leucosomes generated by partial melting of the uppermost sole amphibolite, yielded a U?Pb zircon protolith age of ca. 190 Ma and a high-grade metamorphic-anatectic age of 74.0 ± 3.5 Ma associated with ophiolite emplacement. The Tsiknias Ophiolite was therefore obducted ~90 Myrs after it formed during initiation of a NE-dipping intra-oceanic subduction zone to the northeast of the Cyclades that coincides with Africa's plate motion changing from transcurrent to convergent. Continued subduction resulted in high-pressure metamorphism of the Cycladic continental margin ~25 Myrs later.
Citation
Lamont , T N , Roberts , N M W , Searle , M P , Gopon , P , Waters , D J & Miller , I 2020 , ' The age, origin and emplacement of the Tsiknias Ophiolite, Tinos, Greece ' , Tectonics , vol. 39 , no. 1 , e2019TC005677 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2019TC005677
Publication
Tectonics
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0278-7407Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2019. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
This work forms part of Thomas Lamont’s D.Phil project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (Grant No. NE/L0021612/1). Analytical work at the NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory was funded by NIGFSC grant IP-1597-1115.Collections
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