Publication Date:
2010-09-14
Description:
Similar geological, petrological, geochemical and age features are found in various Armenian ophiolitic massifs (Sevan, Stepanavan and Vedi). These data argue for the presence of a single large ophiolite unit obducted on the South Armenian Block (SAB). Lherzolite Ophiolite type rock assemblages evidence a Lower-Middle Jurassic slow-spreading rate. The lavas and gabbros have a hybrid geochemical composition intermediate between arc and Mid Ocean Ridge Basalt (MORB) signatures which suggest they were probably formed in a back-arc basin. This oceanic sequence is overlain by pillowed alkaline lavas emplaced in marine conditions. Their geochemical composition is similar to plateau-lavas. Finally, this thickened oceanic crust is overlain by Upper Cretaceous calc-alkaline lavas likely formed in a supra-subduction zone environment. The age of the ophiolite is constrained by 40Ar/39Ar dating experiments provided a magmatic crystallization age of 178.7{+/-}2.6 Ma, and further evidence of greenschist facies crystallization during hydrothermal alteration until c. 155 Ma. Thus, top-to-the-south obduction likely initiated along the margin of the back-arc domain, directly south of the Vedi oceanic crust, and was transported as a whole on the SAB in the Coniacian times (88-87 Ma). Final closure of the basin is Late Cretaceous in age (73-71 Ma) as dated by metamorphic rocks.
