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             OMAN OPHIOLITE                

  INTRODUCTION 

The Oman ophiolite, the largest ophiolite complex in the world, is regarded as a fragment of Cretaceous oceanic lithosphere obducted onto the Arabian shield. In the Oman ophiolite, the extensive exposure of an almost complete section of oceanic crust and uppermost mantle (500 km long and to 14 km thick) has led to many detailed investigations concerning the magma plumbing system (Lippard et al., 1986; Nicolas et al., 1988; Kelemen et al., 1997), segmentation (Nicolas et al., 1988; MacLeod and Rothery, 1992), and mantle flow (Ceuleneer et al., 1988; Nicolas, 1989) at or beneath the spreading ridge. However, the tectonic setting under which the Oman ophiolite initially formed (mid-ocean ridge versus backarc spreading center) and the origin of the overthrusting of the oceanic plate that caused ophiolite obduction are still subjects of discussion, and some essentially distinct models are proposed for petrogenesis of the Oman ophiolite (e.g., Alabaster et al., 1982; Lippard et al., 1986; Boudier et al., 1988, 1997; Nicolas, 1989).

It consists mainly of pillow lave, sheeted dykes, layered gabbro, transition zone and mantle peridotite ( from top to bottom).

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