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The Neoproterozoic Abu Dahr ophiolite, South Eastern Desert, Egypt: petrological characteristics and tectonomagmatic evolution

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Abstract

The Neoproterozoic Abu Dahr ophiolite, South Eastern Desert, Egypt, is one of the best preserved and least dismembered ophiolite successions in the Arabian-Nubian Shield. It contains a Penrose-type ophiolite sequence from mantle section below mafic crust upward to oceanic sedimentary cover overlying mafic volcanics, although the original magmatic (stratigraphic) contact between the mantle and crustal sections is disrupted by tectonism. The Abu Dahr ophiolite is metamorphosed under greenschist facies conditions, and low-temperature alteration is widespread. Petrography reveals that: (i) the mantle is homogenous, serpentinized, and dominated by harzburgite and less abundant dunite; (ii) the cumulate ultramafics are represented by wehrlite and pyroxenite; and (iii) the crustal section is represented by metagabbros, meta-anorthosites and metabasalts. The Abu Dahr serpentinized peridotites show high Mg# (0.92–0.93), with enrichment of Ni, Cr and Co, and depletion of Al2O3 and CaO, and nearly flat and unfractionated REE chondrite-normalized pattern. Major and trace element characteristics of the Abu Dahr metagabbro and metabasalt (crustal section) indicate a tholeiitic to calc-alkaline affinity. Units of the crustal section have low-Nb and Zr concentrations, low Dy/Yb and relatively elevated La/Yb ratios, high U/Yb and Th/Yb ratios, and LREE enriched chondrite-normalized pattern. All of the Abu Dahr ophiolite units have trace-element signatures characterized by enrichment of LILE over HFSE. Rare and trace element patterns indicate a genetic link between the Abu Dahr mantle, cumulate ultramafics, and crust. Chromian spinel has survived metamorphism and is used as a petrogenetic indicator in the Abu Dahr serpentinized peridotites. The spinel is homogeneous with a limited composition, and shows high-Cr# (>0.6) combined with low-TiO2 character (mostly <0.1 wt.%). The Abu Dahr ophiolite is interpreted as a fragment of depleted oceanic lithosphere that experienced high degrees of partial melting (up to 35 %) and originated in a fore-arc setting. Such interpretation contributes to the body of evidence suggesting that tectonomagmatic processes of the Neoproterozoic were largely similar to those of the Phanerozoic, implying little, or no significant, change in the geothermal regime of Earth since the Neoproterozoic.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by King Saud University, Deanship of Scientific Research, Research Group No. (RG-1436-036). The authors are indebted to the Department of Geology, Assiut University, for field work assistance. The sincere gratitude is extended to K. Topshel and the Department of Geography and Geology, University of Würzburg, Germany, for their support in the microprobe analyses. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved the manuscript. Peter R. Johnson is highly appreciated for critical linguistic and scientific revision. Special thanks are paid to Associate Editor Georg Hoinkes and Editor in Chief Johann Raith for constructive comments and editorial handling, and Lhiric Agoyaoy for his editorial handling as well.

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  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Hisham A. Gahlan

  2. Geological Sciences Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, 12622, Egypt

    Mokhles K. Azer & Ahmed E.S. Khalil

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Gahlan, H.A., Azer, M.K. & Khalil, A.E. The Neoproterozoic Abu Dahr ophiolite, South Eastern Desert, Egypt: petrological characteristics and tectonomagmatic evolution. Miner Petrol 109, 611–630 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-015-0397-z

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