International audienceThe Lavrion peninsula is located along the western boundary of the Attic-Cycladic metamorphic complex in the internal zone of the Hellenic orogenic belt. The nappe stack is well exposed and made, from top to bottom, of (i) a non-metamorphic upper unit composed of an ophiolitic melange, (ii) a middle unit mainly composed of the Lavrion schists in blueschist facies, (iii) and a basal unit mainly composed of the Kamariza schists affected by pervasive retrogression of the blueschist facies metamorphism in greenschist facies. The middle unit is characterized by a relatively steep-dipping foliation associated with isoclinal folds of weakly organized axial orientation. This foliation is transposed into a shallow-dipping foliation bearing a N-S trending lineation. The degree of transposition increases with structural depth and is particularly marked at the transition from the middle to the basal unit across a low-angle mylonitic to cataclastic detachment. The blueschist facies foliation of the Lavrion schists (middle unit) is underlined by high pressure phengite intergrown with chlorite. The Kamariza schists (basal unit) contains relics of the blueschist mineral paragenesis but is dominated by intermediate pressure phengite also intergrown with chlorite and locally with biotite. Electron probe micro-analyzer chemical mapping combined with inverse thermodynamic modeling (local multi-equilibrium) reveals distinct pressure–temperature conditions of crystallization of phengite and chlorite assemblages as a function of their structural, microstructural and microtextural positions. The middle unit is characterized by two metamorphic conditions grading from high pressure (M1, 9–13 kbar) to lower pressure (M2, 6–9 kbar) at a constant temperature of ca. 315 °C. The basal unit has preserved a first set of HP/LT conditions (M1–2, 8–11 kbar, 300 °C) partially to totally transposed-retrogressed into a lower pressure mineral assemblage (M3, 5–8.5 kbar) associated with a slight but significant increase in temperature (∼350 °C)
Ophiolitic mélanges associated with ophiolitic sequences are wide spread in the Mirdita-Subpelagonian zone (Albanide-Hellenide Orogenic Belt) and consist of tectonosedimentary 'block-in-matrix-type' mélanges. Volcanic and subvolcanic basaltic rocks included in the main mélange units are studied in this paper with the aim of assessing their chemistry and petrogenesis, as well as their original tectonic setting of formation. Basaltic rocks incorporated in these mélanges include (i) Triassic transitional to alkaline withinplate basalts (WPB); (ii) Triassic normal (N-MORB) and enriched (E-MORB) mid-oceanic ridge basalts; (iii) Jurassic N-MORB; (iv) Jurassic basalts with geochemical characteristics intermediate between MORB and island arc tholeiites (MORB/IAT); and (v) Jurassic boninitic rocks. These rocks record different igneous activities, which are related to the geodynamic and mantle evolution through time in the Mirdita-Subpelagonian sector of the Tethys. Mélange units formed mainly through sedimentary processes are characterized by the prevalence of materials derived from the supra-subduction zone (SSZ) environments, whereas in mélange units where tectonic processes prevail, oceanic materials predominate. In contrast, no compositional distinction between structurally similar mélange units is observed, suggesting that they may be regarded as a unique mélange belt extending from the Hellenides to the Albanides, whose formation was largely dominated by the mechanisms of incorporation of the different materials. Most of the basaltic rocks surfacing in the MOR and SSZ Albanide-Hellenide ophiolites are incorporated in mélanges. However, basalts with island arc tholeiitic affinity, although they are volumetrically the most abundant ophiolitic rock types, have not been found in mélanges so far. This implies that the rocks forming the main part of the intraoceanic arc do not seem to have contributed to the mélange formation, whereas rocks presumably formed in the forearc region are largely represented in sedimentary-dominated mélanges. In addition, Triassic E-MORB, N-MORB and WPB included in many mélanges are not presently found in the ophiolitic sequences. Nonetheless, they testify to the existence throughout the Albanide-Hellenide Belt of an oceanic basin since the Middle Triassic.
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