Ophiolites as fragments of oceanic crust (Troodos)
Las ofiolitas como fragmentos de corteza oceánica (Troodos)
- Date
- 1968-1972 · confidence high
- Place
- Troodos Massif, Cyprus
- Credited to
- Ian Gass, Eldridge Moores and Frederick Vine
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
In 1968 Ian Gass proposed that the Troodos complex, with peridotites, gabbros, sheeted dykes and pillow lavas, is a piece of oceanic crust and mantle uplifted above sea level; Moores and Vine supported it in 1971. Ophiolites became direct evidence of how oceanic crust forms.
The interpretation was consolidated at the 1972 Penrose Conference, which defined the term 'ophiolite'; the term was coined by Brongniart in 1813 and Steinmann studied the 'trinity' in 1927.
What it led to
- the ophiolite model of oceanic crust
- study of obduction and continental collision