MINERALOGICAL and physical characteristics of natural chromites from Oman ophiolites have been recently investigated using M6ssbauer spectrocopy (MS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) by Al-Alawi et al. (1996). From the MS analysis together with the SEM data, they derived the chemical formula for specimens collected from two separate chromite deposits named Tawiyah...

O are claimed to be pieces of ocean crust and upper mantle that have been thrust up onto continental crust and are now found in mountains, mainly along continental margins.1,2 An ideal ophiolite suite consists from bottom to top of peridotite, gabbro, sheeted dikes, basalt with pillow lavas and sedimentary rocks. The peridotite is considered to be an upper mantle rock, while the remainder of th...

Subduction initiation is a critical link in the plate tectonic cycle. Intraoceanic subduction zones can form along transform faults and fracture zones, but how subduction nucleates parallel to mid-ocean ridges, as in e.g., the Neotethys Ocean during the Jurassic, remains a matter of debate. In recent years, extensional detachment faults have been widely documented adjacent to slow-spreading and...

Two ancient asbestos mines, one near Karystos, Greece, and the other southeast of Mount Troodos, Cyprus, were located in what we now know to be ophiolite terrane. Evidence suggests that asbestos was discovered and utilized in Cyprus, perhaps as long as 5,000 years ago, for manufacture of cremation cloths, lamp wicks, hats, and shoes. Some of the adverse health effects of asbestos became known o...