The Shishkhid ophiolite, northern Mongolia: A key to the reconstruction of a Neoproterozoic island-arc system in central Asia

The Shishkhid ophiolite and related rocks have been traced for about 600 km, and similar units can be found in other Precambrian terrains of central Asia. Thus, the Shishkhid oceanic-arc system was a major tectonic feature of the Neoproterozoic Palaeo-Asian ocean. Its recognition suggests that the central Asian tectonic evolution encompassed the development of three generations of island arc systems replacing each other throughout the Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic.