Ophiolite in the context of "Smolikas"

⭐ In the context of Mount Smolikas, ophiolite rocks are significant because they indicate what about the mountain’s geological history?

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⭐ Core Definition: 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) 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.

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👉 Ophiolite in the context of Smolikas

Mount Smolikas (Greek: Σμόλικας; Aromanian: Smolcu) is a mountain in the Ioannina regional unit, northwestern Greece. At a height of 2,637 metres above sea level, it is the highest of the Pindus Mountains, and the second highest mountain in Greece after Mount Olympus. The mountain consists of ophiolite rocks. During several periods in the Pleistocene the northern and eastern cirques and valleys were glaciated. The last glaciers of this area retreated around 11,500 years ago. It is drained by the river Vjosa to the south, and the river Vourkopotamo (a tributary of the Sarantaporos) to the north. There is a small alpine lake called "Drakolimni Smolika" near the summit, at about 2,200 metres elevation. Nearby mountain ranges are Tymfi to the south, Gramos to the northwest, Vasilitsa to the southeast and Voio to the northeast.

The higher elevations, above 2,000 metres, consist of grasslands and rocks, and there are deciduous and conifer forests at lower elevations. The mountain lies completely within the municipality of Konitsa, the main villages around the mountain being Agia Paraskevi to the north, and Palaioselli, Pades and Armata to the south. The town Konitsa lies 15 km southwest of Smolikas. The Greek National Road 20 (Kozani - Siatista - Konitsa - Ioannina) passes west of the mountain.

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Ophiolite in the context of Mount Othrys

Mount Othrys (Greek: όρος Όθρυςoros Othrys, also Όθρη – Othri) is a mountain range of central Greece, in the northeastern part of Phthiotis and southern part of Magnesia. Its highest summit, Gerakovouni, situated on the border of Phthiotis and Magnesia, is 1,726 m (5,663 ft) above sea level. The population density in the mountains is low: there are a few small villages, including Anavra in the northwest, Kokkotoi in the northeast, Palaiokerasia in the south and Neraida in the southwest. The length from west to east is about 35 km (22 mi) and the width from north to south is about 25 km (16 mi). The Pagasetic Gulf lies to the northeast, and the Malian Gulf lies to the south. The summit Gerakovouni lies 19 km (12 mi) south of Almyros, 27 km (17 mi) northeast of Lamia and 44 km (27 mi) southwest of Volos. The peaks of the range are above the tree line. The main mineral constituent of the rock is ophiolite.

A Natura 2000 protected area has been defined over much, but not all, of the range according to the Birds Directive. Of interest to the government is the protection of the raptors and the prevention of clear-cutting and other settlement measures that would destroy their traditional habitat. The area, named Oros Othrys, Vouna Gkouras kai Farangi Palaio Kerasias, ID GR1430006, includes the eastern range, a spur to the south to cover Palaiokerasia Gorge, and a spur to the north to cover Gkouras Hill.

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Ophiolite in the context of Lewis Hills

The Lewis Hills are a section of the Long Range Mountains located on the west coast of Newfoundland, along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

An ophiolite and Peridotite complex, the Lewis Hills are the southernmost of four such complexes located within the Humber Arm Allochthon, a world-renowned geological area. They are located in an area stretching between the town of Stephenville in the south and the city of Corner Brook in the north.

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Ophiolite in the context of Lizard complex

The Lizard complex, Cornwall is generally accepted to represent a preserved example of an exposed ophiolite complex in the United Kingdom. The rocks found in The Lizard area are analogous to those found in such famous areas as the Troodos Mountains, Cyprus and the Semail Ophiolite, Oman.

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Ophiolite in the context of Obduction

Obduction is a geological process whereby denser oceanic crust (and even upper mantle) is scraped off a descending ocean plate at a convergent plate boundary and thrust on top of an adjacent plate. When oceanic and continental plates converge, normally the denser oceanic crust sinks under the continental crust in the process of subduction. Obduction, which is less common, normally occurs in plate collisions at orogenic belts (some of the material from the subducting oceanic plate is emplaced onto the continental plate) or back-arc basins (regions where the edge of a continent is pulled away from the rest of the continent due to the stress of plate collision).

Obduction of oceanic lithosphere produces a characteristic set of rock types called an ophiolite. This assemblage consists of deep-marine sedimentary rock (chert, limestone, clastic sediments), volcanic rocks (pillow lavas, volcanic glass, volcanic ash, sheeted dykes and gabbros) and peridotite (mantle rock). John McPhee describes ophiolite formation by obduction as "where ocean crust slides into a trench and goes under a continent, [and] a part of the crust—i.e., an ophiolite—is shaved off the top and ends up on the lip of the continent."

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Ophiolite in the context of Taitao ophiolite

Taitao ophiolite (Spanish: Ofiolita de Taitao) is an ophiolite in Taitao Peninsula of western Patagonia, Chile. The ophiolite crops out about 10 km w to the east of the Peru-Chile Trench and 50 km to the south of Chile Triple Junction —two features to which it is related.

The ophiolite formed in connection to the subduction of the Chile Rise, a mid-ocean ridge, beneath South America. More specifically it has been proposed that the ophiolite formed in a rift of the forearc region of the South American plate.

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Ophiolite in the context of Dunite

Dunite (/ˈdnt, ˈdʌnt/), also known as olivinite (not to be confused with the mineral olivenite), is an intrusive igneous rock of ultramafic composition and with phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture. The mineral assemblage is greater than 90% olivine, with minor amounts of other minerals such as pyroxene, chromite, magnetite, and pyrope. Dunite is the olivine-rich endmember of the peridotite group of mantle-derived rocks.

Dunite and other peridotite rocks are considered the major constituents of the Earth's mantle above a depth of about 400 km (250 mi). Dunite is rarely found within continental rocks, but where it is found, it typically occurs at the base of ophiolite sequences where slabs of mantle rock from a subduction zone have been thrust onto continental crust by obduction during continental or island arc collisions (orogeny). It is also found in alpine peridotite massifs that represent slivers of sub-continental mantle exposed during collisional orogeny. Dunite typically undergoes retrograde metamorphism in near-surface environments and is altered to serpentinite and soapstone.

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