Misplaced Pages

#97902

52-556: An ophiolite and Peridotite complex, the Lewis Hills is the southernmost of four such complexes located within the Humber Arm Allochthon, a world-renowned geological area. It is located in an area stretching between the town of Stephenville in the south and the city of Corner Brook in the north. The Lewis Hills is an excellent backcountry wilderness hiking destination. The most accessible day-hiking route to

104-411: A terrestrial planet or natural satellite . On Earth , it is composed of the crust and the lithospheric mantle , the topmost portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of up to thousands of years or more. The crust and upper mantle are distinguished on the basis of chemistry and mineralogy . Earth's lithosphere, which constitutes the hard and rigid outer vertical layer of

156-491: A Nb depletion. These chemical signatures support the ophiolites having formed in a back-arc basin of a subduction zone. Ophiolite generation and subduction may also be explained, as suggested from evidence from the Coast Range ophiolite of California and Baja California, by a change in subduction location and polarity. Oceanic crust attached to a continental margin subducts beneath an island arc. Pre-ophiolitic ocean crust

208-415: A low occurrence of silica-rich minerals; those present have a high sodium and low potassium content. The temperature gradients of the metamorphosis of ophiolitic pillow lavas and dykes are similar to those found beneath ocean ridges today. Evidence from the metal-ore deposits present in and near ophiolites and from oxygen and hydrogen isotopes suggests that the passage of seawater through hot basalt in

260-502: A mountain, mountain range, or peak in Canada is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Newfoundland and Labrador location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ophiolite An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed, and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks. The Greek word ὄφις, ophis ( snake )

312-946: A passive continental margin. They include the Coast Range ophiolite of California, the Josephine ophiolite of the Klamath Mountains (California, Oregon), and ophiolites in the southern Andes of South America. Despite their differences in mode of emplacement, both types of ophiolite are exclusively supra-subduction zone (SSZ) in origin. Based on mode of occurrences, the Neoproterozoic ophiolites appear to show characteristics of both mid-oceanic ridge basalt (MORB)-type and SSZ-type ophiolites and are classified from oldest to youngest into: (1) MORB intact ophiolites (MIO); (2) dismembered ophiolites (DO); and (3) arc-associated ophiolites (AAO) (El Bahariya, 2018). Collectively,

364-458: A range of trace elements as well (that is, chemical elements occurring in amounts of 1000  ppm or less). In particular, trace elements associated with subduction zone (island arc) volcanics tend to be high in ophiolites, whereas trace elements that are high in ocean ridge basalts but low in subduction zone volcanics are also low in ophiolites. Additionally, the crystallization order of feldspar and pyroxene (clino- and orthopyroxene) in

416-532: A seismic study on an ophiolite complex ( Bay of Islands, Newfoundland ) in order to establish a comparison. The study concluded that oceanic and ophiolitic velocity structures were identical, pointing to the origin of ophiolite complexes as oceanic crust. The observations that follow support this conclusion. Rocks originating on the seafloor show chemical composition comparable to unaltered ophiolite layers, from primary composition elements such as silicon and titanium to trace elements. Seafloor and ophiolitic rocks share

468-805: A subduction zone cannot subduct much further than about 100 km (62 mi) before resurfacing. As a result, continental lithosphere is not recycled at subduction zones the way oceanic lithosphere is recycled. Instead, continental lithosphere is a nearly permanent feature of the Earth. Geoscientists can directly study the nature of the subcontinental mantle by examining mantle xenoliths brought up in kimberlite , lamproite , and other volcanic pipes . The histories of these xenoliths have been investigated by many methods, including analyses of abundances of isotopes of osmium and rhenium . Such studies have confirmed that mantle lithospheres below some cratons have persisted for periods in excess of 3 billion years, despite

520-686: A subduction zone, and contact with air. A hypothesis based on research conducted on the Bay of Islands complex in Newfoundland as well as the East Vardar complex in the Apuseni Mountains of Romania suggest that an irregular continental margin colliding with an island arc complex causes ophiolite generation in a back-arc basin and obduction due to compression. The continental margin, promontories and reentrants along its length,

572-659: A type of geosyncline called eugeosynclines were characterized by producing an "initial magmatism" that in some cases corresponded to ophiolitic magmatism. As plate tectonic theory prevailed in geology and geosyncline theory became outdated ophiolites were interpreted in the new framework. They were recognized as fragments of oceanic lithosphere , and dykes were viewed as the result of extensional tectonics at mid-ocean ridges . The plutonic rocks found in ophiolites were understood as remnants of former magma chambers. In 1973, Akiho Miyashiro revolutionized common conceptions of ophiolites and proposed an island arc origin for

SECTION 10

#1732798277098

624-415: Is a thermal boundary layer for the convection in the mantle. The thickness of the mantle part of the oceanic lithosphere can be approximated as a thermal boundary layer that thickens as the square root of time. h ∼ 2 κ t {\displaystyle h\,\sim \,2\,{\sqrt {\kappa t}}} Here, h {\displaystyle h} is the thickness of

676-409: Is attached to the subducting oceanic crust, which dips away from it underneath the island arc complex. As subduction takes place, the buoyant continent and island arc complex converge, initially colliding with the promontories. However, oceanic crust is still at the surface between the promontories, not having been subducted beneath the island arc yet. The subducting oceanic crust is thought to split from

728-506: Is found in the name of ophiolites, because of the superficial texture of some of them. Serpentinite especially evokes a snakeskin. (The suffix -lite is from the Greek lithos , meaning "stone".) Some ophiolites have a green color. The origin of these rocks, present in many mountainous massifs , remained uncertain until the advent of plate tectonic theory. Their great significance relates to their occurrence within mountain belts such as

780-408: Is generated by a back-arc basin. The collision of the continent and island arc initiates a new subduction zone at the back-arc basin, dipping in the opposite direction as the first. The created ophiolite becomes the tip of the new subduction's forearc and is uplifted (over the accretionary wedge ) by detachment and compression. Verification of the two above hypotheses requires further research, as do

832-417: Is no thicker than the crust, but oceanic lithosphere thickens as it ages and moves away from the mid-ocean ridge. The oldest oceanic lithosphere is typically about 140 kilometres (87 mi) thick. This thickening occurs by conductive cooling, which converts hot asthenosphere into lithospheric mantle and causes the oceanic lithosphere to become increasingly thick and dense with age. In fact, oceanic lithosphere

884-455: Is that the thick gabbro layer of ophiolites calls for large magma chambers beneath mid-ocean ridges. However, seismic sounding of mid-ocean ridges has revealed only a few magma chambers beneath ridges, and these are quite thin. A few deep drill holes into oceanic crust have intercepted gabbro, but it is not layered like ophiolite gabbro. The circulation of hydrothermal fluids through young oceanic crust causes serpentinization , alteration of

936-426: Is velocity of the lithospheric plate. Oceanic lithosphere is less dense than asthenosphere for a few tens of millions of years but after this becomes increasingly denser than asthenosphere. While chemically differentiated oceanic crust is lighter than asthenosphere, thermal contraction of the mantle lithosphere makes it more dense than the asthenosphere. The gravitational instability of mature oceanic lithosphere has

988-506: The Alps and the Himalayas , where they document the existence of former ocean basins that have now been consumed by subduction . This insight was one of the founding pillars of plate tectonics , and ophiolites have always played a central role in plate tectonic theory and the interpretation of ancient mountain belts. The stratigraphic -like sequence observed in ophiolites corresponds to

1040-494: The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and other research cruises have shown that in situ ocean crust can be quite variable in thickness and composition, and that in places sheeted dikes sit directly on peridotite tectonite , with no intervening gabbros . Ophiolites have been identified in most of the world's orogenic belts . However, two components of ophiolite formation are under debate:

1092-697: The closure of the Tethys Ocean . Ophiolites in Archean and Paleoproterozoic domains are rare. Most ophiolites can be divided into one of two groups: Tethyan and Cordilleran. Tethyan ophiolites are characteristic of those that occur in the eastern Mediterranean sea area, e.g. Troodos in Cyprus, and in the Middle East, such as Semail in Oman, which consist of relatively complete rock series corresponding to

SECTION 20

#1732798277098

1144-607: The geosyncline concept. He held that Alpine ophiolites were "submarine effusions issuing along thrust faults into the active flank of an asymmetrically shortening geosyncline". The apparent lack of ophiolites in the Peruvian Andes , Steinmann theorized, was either due to the Andes being preceded by a shallow geosyncline or representing just the margin of a geosyncline. Thus, Cordilleran-type and Alpine-type mountains were to be different in this regard. In Hans Stille 's models

1196-428: The lithosphere -forming processes at mid-oceanic ridges . From top to bottom, the layers in the sequence are: A Geological Society of America Penrose Conference on ophiolites in 1972 defined the term "ophiolite" to include all of the layers listed above, including the sediment layer formed independently of the rest of the ophiolite. This definition has been challenged recently because new studies of oceanic crust by

1248-426: The ocean basins . Continental lithosphere is associated with continental crust (having a mean density of about 2.7 grams per cubic centimetre or 0.098 pounds per cubic inch) and underlies the continents and continental shelves. Oceanic lithosphere consists mainly of mafic crust and ultramafic mantle ( peridotite ) and is denser than continental lithosphere. Young oceanic lithosphere, found at mid-ocean ridges ,

1300-539: The "Steinmann Trinity": the mixture of serpentine , diabase - spilite and chert . The recognition of the Steinmann Trinity served years later to build up the theory around seafloor spreading and plate tectonics . A key observation by Steinmann was that ophiolites were associated to sedimentary rocks reflecting former deep sea environments. Steinmann himself interpreted ophiolites (the Trinity) using

1352-516: The Earth, includes the crust and the lithospheric mantle (or mantle lithosphere), the uppermost part of the mantle that is not convecting. The lithosphere is underlain by the asthenosphere which is the weaker, hotter, and deeper part of the upper mantle that is able to convect. The lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary is defined by a difference in response to stress. The lithosphere remains rigid for very long periods of geologic time in which it deforms elastically and through brittle failure, while

1404-438: The Earth." They have been broadly accepted by geologists and geophysicists. These concepts of a strong lithosphere resting on a weak asthenosphere are essential to the theory of plate tectonics . The lithosphere can be divided into oceanic and continental lithosphere. Oceanic lithosphere is associated with oceanic crust (having a mean density of about 2.9 grams per cubic centimetre or 0.10 pounds per cubic inch) and exists in

1456-557: The Lewis Hills is by the International Appalachian Trail , with the southern trail head located almost at the end of Cold Brook Road, and the northern trail head at the end of Logger School Road At 814 m (2,671 ft) above sea level, the highest elevation on Newfoundland is The Cabox located in the Lewis Hills at 48°49′59″N 58°29′03″W  /  48.83306°N 58.48417°W  / 48.83306; -58.48417 . This article related to

1508-525: The above observations, there are inconsistencies in the theory of ophiolites as oceanic crust, which suggests that newly generated ocean crust follows the full Wilson cycle before emplacement as an ophiolite. This requires ophiolites to be much older than the orogenies on which they lie, and therefore old and cold. However, radiometric and stratigraphic dating has found ophiolites to have undergone emplacement when young and hot: most are less than 50 million years old. Ophiolites therefore cannot have followed

1560-419: The asthenosphere deforms viscously and accommodates strain through plastic deformation . The thickness of the lithosphere is thus considered to be the depth to the isotherm associated with the transition between brittle and viscous behavior. The temperature at which olivine becomes ductile (~1,000 °C or 1,830 °F) is often used to set this isotherm because olivine is generally the weakest mineral in

1612-477: The classic ophiolite assemblage and which have been emplaced onto a passive continental margin more or less intact (Tethys is the name given to the ancient sea that once separated Europe and Africa). Cordilleran ophiolites are characteristic of those that occur in the mountain belts of western North America (the " Cordillera " or backbone of the continent). These ophiolites sit on subduction zone accretionary complexes (subduction complexes) and have no association with

Lewis Hills - Misplaced Pages Continue

1664-557: The classic ophiolite occurrences thought of as being related to seafloor spreading (Troodos in Cyprus , Semail in Oman ) were found to be "SSZ" ophiolites, formed by rapid extension of fore-arc crust during subduction initiation. A fore-arc setting for most ophiolites also solves the otherwise-perplexing problem of how oceanic lithosphere can be emplaced on top of continental crust. It appears that continental accretion sediments, if carried by

1716-523: The concept and introduced the term "lithosphere". The concept was based on the presence of significant gravity anomalies over continental crust, from which he inferred that there must exist a strong, solid upper layer (which he called the lithosphere) above a weaker layer which could flow (which he called the asthenosphere ). These ideas were expanded by the Canadian geologist Reginald Aldworth Daly in 1940 with his seminal work "Strength and Structure of

1768-408: The continental lithosphere are billions of years old. Geophysical studies in the early 21st century posit that large pieces of the lithosphere have been subducted into the mantle as deep as 2,900 kilometres (1,800 mi) to near the core-mantle boundary, while others "float" in the upper mantle. Yet others stick down into the mantle as far as 400 kilometres (250 mi) but remain "attached" to

1820-401: The continental margin to aid subduction. In the event that the rate of trench retreat is greater than that of the island arc complex's progression, trench rollback will take place, and by consequence, extension of the overriding plate will occur to allow the island arc complex to match the trench retreat's speed. The extension, a back-arc basin, generates oceanic crust: ophiolites. Finally, when

1872-403: The continental plate above, similar to the extent of the old concept of "tectosphere" revisited by Jordan in 1988. Subducting lithosphere remains rigid (as demonstrated by deep earthquakes along Wadati–Benioff zone ) to a depth of about 600 kilometres (370 mi). Continental lithosphere has a range in thickness from about 40 kilometres (25 mi) to perhaps 280 kilometres (170 mi);

1924-503: The downgoing plate into a subduction zone, will jam it up and cause subduction to cease, resulting in the rebound of the accretionary prism with fore-arc lithosphere (ophiolite) on top of it. Ophiolites with compositions comparable with hotspot -type eruptive settings or normal mid-oceanic ridge basalt are rare, and those examples are generally strongly dismembered in subduction zone accretionary complexes. Ophiolites are common in orogenic belts of Mesozoic age, like those formed by

1976-437: The effect that at subduction zones, oceanic lithosphere invariably sinks underneath the overriding lithosphere, which can be oceanic or continental. New oceanic lithosphere is constantly being produced at mid-ocean ridges and is recycled back to the mantle at subduction zones. As a result, oceanic lithosphere is much younger than continental lithosphere: the oldest oceanic lithosphere is about 170 million years old, while parts of

2028-431: The famous Troodos Ophiolite in Cyprus , arguing that numerous lavas and dykes in the ophiolite had calc-alkaline chemistries . Examples of ophiolites that have been influential in the study of these rocks bodies are: Lithosphere A lithosphere (from Ancient Greek λίθος ( líthos )  'rocky' and σφαίρα ( sphaíra )  'sphere') is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of

2080-497: The first, he used ophiolite for serpentinite rocks found in large-scale breccias called mélanges . In the second publication, he expanded the definition to encompass a variety of igneous rocks as well such as gabbro , diabase , ultramafic and volcanic rocks. Ophiolites thus became a name for a well-known association of rocks occurring in the Alps and Apennines of Italy. Following work in these two mountains systems, Gustav Steinmann defined what later became known as

2132-410: The full Wilson cycle and are considered atypical ocean crust. There is yet no consensus on the mechanics of emplacement, the process by which oceanic crust is uplifted onto continental margins despite the relatively low density of the latter. All emplacement procedures share the same steps nonetheless: subduction initiation, thrusting of the ophiolite over a continental margin or an overriding plate at

Lewis Hills - Misplaced Pages Continue

2184-481: The gabbros is reversed, and ophiolites also appear to have a multi-phase magmatic complexity on par with subduction zones. Indeed, there is increasing evidence that most ophiolites are generated when subduction begins and thus represent fragments of fore-arc lithosphere. This led to introduction of the term "supra-subduction zone" (SSZ) ophiolite in the 1980s to acknowledge that some ophiolites are more closely related to island arcs than ocean ridges. Consequently, some of

2236-591: The investigated ophiolites of the Central Eastern Desert (CED) fall into both MORB/back-arc basin basalt (BABB) ophiolites and SSZ ophiolites. They are spatially and temporally unrelated, and thus, it seems likely that the two types are not petrogenetically related. Ophiolites occur in different geological settings, and they represent change of the tectonic setting of the ophiolites from MORB to SSZ with time. The term ophiolite originated from publications of Alexandre Brongniart in 1813 and 1821. In

2288-500: The oceanic lithosphere is entirely subducted, the island arc complex's extensional regime becomes compressional. The hot, positively buoyant ocean crust from the extension will not subduct, instead obducting onto the island arc as an ophiolite. As compression persists, the ophiolite is emplaced onto the continental margin. Based on Sr and Nd isotope analyses, ophiolites have a similar composition to mid-ocean-ridge basalts, but typically have slightly elevated large ion lithophile elements and

2340-419: The oceanic mantle lithosphere, κ {\displaystyle \kappa } is the thermal diffusivity (approximately 1.0 × 10  m /s or 6.5 × 10  sq ft/min) for silicate rocks, and t {\displaystyle t} is the age of the given part of the lithosphere. The age is often equal to L/V, where L is the distance from the spreading centre of mid-oceanic ridge , and V

2392-412: The origin of the sequence and the mechanism for ophiolite emplacement. Emplacement is the process of the sequence's uplift over lower density continental crust. Several studies support the conclusion that ophiolites formed as oceanic lithosphere . Seismic velocity structure studies have provided most of the current knowledge of the oceanic crust's composition. For this reason, researchers carried out

2444-628: The other hypotheses available in current literature on the subject. Scientists have drilled only about 1.5 km into the 6- to 7-kilometer-thick oceanic crust, so scientific understanding of oceanic crust comes largely from comparing ophiolite structure to seismic soundings of in situ oceanic crust. Oceanic crust generally has a layered velocity structure that implies a layered rock series similar to that listed above. But in detail there are problems, with many ophiolites exhibiting thinner accumulations of igneous rock than are inferred for oceanic crust. Another problem relating to oceanic crust and ophiolites

2496-465: The peridotites and alteration of minerals in the gabbros and basalts to lower temperature assemblages. For example, plagioclase , pyroxenes , and olivine in the sheeted dikes and lavas will alter to albite , chlorite , and serpentine , respectively. Often, ore bodies such as iron -rich sulfide deposits are found above highly altered epidosites ( epidote - quartz rocks) that are evidence of relict black smokers , which continue to operate within

2548-572: The seafloor spreading centers of ocean ridges today. Thus, there is reason to believe that ophiolites are indeed oceanic mantle and crust; however, certain problems arise when looking closer. Beyond issues of layer thicknesses mentioned above, a problem arises concerning compositional differences of silica (SiO 2 ) and titania (TiO 2 ). Ophiolite basalt contents place them in the domain of subduction zones (~55% silica, <1% TiO 2 ), whereas mid-ocean ridge basalts typically have ~50% silica and 1.5–2.5% TiO 2 . These chemical differences extend to

2600-605: The upper approximately 30 to 50 kilometres (19 to 31 mi) of typical continental lithosphere is crust. The crust is distinguished from the upper mantle by the change in chemical composition that takes place at the Moho discontinuity . The oldest parts of continental lithosphere underlie cratons , and the mantle lithosphere there is thicker and less dense than typical; the relatively low density of such mantle "roots of cratons" helps to stabilize these regions. Because of its relatively low density, continental lithosphere that arrives at

2652-534: The upper mantle. The lithosphere is subdivided horizontally into tectonic plates , which often include terranes accreted from other plates. The concept of the lithosphere as Earth's strong outer layer was described by the English mathematician A. E. H. Love in his 1911 monograph "Some problems of Geodynamics" and further developed by the American geologist Joseph Barrell , who wrote a series of papers about

SECTION 50

#1732798277098

2704-483: The vicinity of ridges dissolved and carried elements that precipitated as sulfides when the heated seawater came into contact with cold seawater. The same phenomenon occurs near oceanic ridges in a formation known as hydrothermal vents . The final line of evidence supporting the origin of ophiolites as seafloor is the region of formation of the sediments over the pillow lavas: they were deposited in water over 2 km deep, far removed from land-sourced sediments. Despite

#97902