JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCE, vol.27, no.6, pp.901-934, 2016 (SCI-Expanded)
The Tauride ophiolites lie on the northern and southern flanks of an E-W-trending Tauride carbonate platform. They mainly consist of three tectonic units namely in ascending order, ophiolitic m,lange, sub-ophiolitic metamorphic sole and oceanic lithospheric remnants. They were generated above intra-oceanic subduction zones and emplaced over the Tauride carbonate platform from different Neotethyan oceanic basins in the Late Cretaceous. Tauride ophiolites from west to east are described and reviewed. All are underlain by well-preserved dynamothermal metamorphic soles of varied structural thicknesses up to 500 m that have a constant structural position between ophiolitic m,lange below and harzburgitic mantle tectonites above and display typical inverted metamorphic sequences from amphibolite facies above to greenschist facies below. The metamorphic soles are shown to have evolved during the initiation of subduction and emplacement processes. In the PozantA +/-- KarsantA +/- area the contact between the metamorphic sole and the overlying serpentinized harzburgites is characterized by a 1.5-2-m-thick zone of sheared serpentinized harzburgitic mantle intercalated with amphibolites and cut by thick mafic dykes (7-8 m) which postdate intraoceanic metamorphism and high-temperature ductile deformation. This contact is interpreted as an intra-oceanic decoupling surface along which volcanics from the upper levels of the down-going plate were metamorphosed to amphibolite facies and accreted to the base of the hanging wall plate. The metamorphic soles and overlying ophiolitic rocks were intruded by numerous isolated post-metamorphic diabase dykes filled by island arc tholeiitic magma. Subduction initiation and roll-back processes best explain the structural and petrological relationships of Late Cretaceous ophiolite genesis, metamorphic sole formation and subsequent dyke emplacement of the Tauride ophiolites.