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Petrology and geotectonic significance of salic rocks preceding ophiolites in the Eastern Vardar Zone, Greece

Petrologie und geotektonische Bedeutung der den Ophiolithen vorausgegangenen salischen Gesteine in der östlichen Vardar-Zone, Griechenland

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Summary

In the eastern Vardar Zone of Greece, Na-dominant salic rocks are intimately associated with ophiolites, constituting a NW-trending, about 8 km thick belt along the western margin of the Serbomacedonian Massif. Though of different ages and metamorphic histories, both contrasted lithologic units display similar lateral variations. The salic rocks vary from a hypabyssal tonalite-trondhjemite series in the NW into granophyres and submarine volcanics in the SE. The juxtaposed ophiolites change in the same direction from tectonite peridotites overlain or intruded by mafic-ultramafic cumulates into sheeted dykes and submarine volcanics. The salic rocks were formed by multi-staged fractional melting of a mafic source and correspond chemically to the low-K andensite rhyolite series. The geological and chemical evidence points at an immature island-are setting for the salic rocks above a NE-dipping subduction zone. The lateral variations in their mode of occurrences probably reflect progressive attenuation of the continental crust. The corresponding variations displayed by the juxtaposed ophiolites may have resulted from a change in the plate motion from conservative in the NW to constructive in the SE.

Zusammenfassung

In der östlichen Vardar-Zone von Griechenland bilden Na-betonte salische Gesteine und Ophiolithe einen NW-streichenden, ca. 8 km mächtigen Gürtel entlang des westlichen Randes des Serbomazedonischen Massivs. Trotz verschiedenen Alters und unterschiedlicher metamorpher Beanspruchung zeigen die beiden lithologischen Einheiten gleiche laterale Variationen. Die salischen Gesteine wechsein von Tonaliten und Trondhjemiten im NW zu Granophyren und submarinen Vulkaniten im SE. Die tektonisch angrezenden, etwas jügeren Ophiolithe variieren in der gleichen Richtung von Tektonit-Peridotiten und den überlagrenden oder intrudierenden mafisch-ultramafischen Kumulaten zu einem Gangstockwerk und submarinen, vorwiegend basischen Vulkaniten. Die salischen Gesteine sind durch ein mehrphasiges fraktioniertes Aufschmelzen mafischen Materials entstanden und entsprechen chemisch der K-armen Reihe von basischem Andesit bis Rhyolith. Als Bildungsort weisen die geologischen und chemischen Kriterien auf einen inmaturen Inselbogen oberhalb einer nach NE gerichteten Subduktionszone während des Mittleren Juras hin. Veränderungen in den Ausbildungsformen der salischen Gesteine gehen offensichtlich auf ein progressives Verdünnen der kontinentalen Kruste zurück. Entsprechende Veränderungen in den gegenübergestellten Ophiolithen lassen sich durch Veränderungen in der Plattenbewegung von konservativ im NW zu konstruktiv im SE erklären.

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  1. K. Mussallam & D. Jung

    Present address: Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

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    1. K. Mussallam
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    2. D. Jung
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    Mussallam, K., Jung, D. Petrology and geotectonic significance of salic rocks preceding ophiolites in the Eastern Vardar Zone, Greece. TMPM Tschermaks Petr. Mitt. 35, 217–242 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01191987

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