East Vardar ophiolites revisited: a brief synthesis of geology and geochemical data

The study reports and synthesizes the available geological and geochemical data on the East Vardar ophiolites comprising most known occurrences from the South Apuseni Mountains in Romania to the tip of the Chalkidiki Peninsula in Greece. The summarized geological data suggest that the East Vardar ophiolites are mostly composed of the magmatic sequences, whereas the mantle rocks are very subordinate. The members of the magmatic sequences are characterized by the presence of abundant acid and intermediate volcanic and intrusive rocks. The age of these ophiolites is paleontologically and radiometrically constrained and these data suggest that the East Vardar ophiolite formed as a short-lived oceanic realm that was emplaced before the uppermost Kimmeridgian. A relatively weak adakitic affinity is shown by intra-ophiolitic acid and intermediate rocks in many East Vardar provinces. It can be taken as evidence that the subduction of the young and hot slab, most likely along the earlier spreading ridge has occurred. A paleo-tectonic reconstruction consisting of four stages is proposed. It involves: a) an early/mid-Jurassic northnortheastward subduction of the West Vardar oceanic plate; b) the formation of a mid-Jurassic volcanic arc and a narrow back-arc oceanic stripe of East Vardar behind it; c) the mid-/Upper Jurassic initiation of East Vardar subduction along the ridge axis, and d) complex and heterogeneous emplacement of the East Vardar ophiolites. So far available data allow for having relatively clear ideas about the origin and evolution of the East Vardar ophiolites. However, in order to provide better understanding of all aspects of its evolution we need to answer additional questions related to the true structural position of the East Vardar ophiolites slices in Serbia, the exact nature of subduction that caused back-arc spreading (intraoceanic vs subduction under continent?) and the full significance of the adakitic signature shown by rocks in the East Vardar provinces other than Demir Kapija