A brief review of ophiolites in China

Ophiolites are widely distributed in western, southwestern and northern China, where they fall into four principal age groups; Neoproterozoic, Early Paleozoic, Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic–Cenozoic. Neoproterozoic ophiolites are known only in the North Qinling orogenic belt, in NE Jiangxi Province and in western Sichuan Province. Phanerozoic ophiolites are grouped into the Paleo-Asian, Tethyan and Circum-Pacific series. The Paleo-Asian ophiolites crop out in the western and northern parts of China between the Siberian and North China Blocks, and range in age from early to late Paleozoic. All of these ophiolites are of the Franciscan (formerly Cordilleran) type and many are superimposed on one another, suggesting repeated accretion of arc assemblages in an environment similar to the present-day western Pacific Ocean. Mediterranean-type (formerly Tethyan-type) ophiolites are confined to SW China, particularly Tibet and Yunnan Province. Paleo-Tethyan ophiolites are characterized by MORB-type lavas and are typically bounded by old continental lithosphere, suggesting that they formed in small, intercontinental ocean basins. Neo-Tethyan ophiolites contain a range of lava types including MORB, IAT and boninite, indicating formation in a variety of suprasubduction zone (SSZ) environments. Circum-Pacific ophiolites occur sporadically in Taiwan and NE China, where they form tectonic mélanges composed mainly of metaperidotite, gabbro and basalt.