• DOI:10.1007/S00410-005-0028-5
• Corpus ID: 128424505

Dating the geologic history of Oman’s Semail ophiolite: insights from U-Pb geochronology

@article{Warren2005DatingTG,
  title={Dating the geologic history of Oman’s Semail ophiolite: insights from U-Pb geochronology},
  author={Clare J. Warren and Randall Parrish and David J. Waters and Michael P. Searle},
  journal={Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology},
  year={2005},
  volume={150},
  pages={403-422}
}

• C. Warren, R. Parrish, +1 author M. Searle
• Published 27 September 2005
• Geology
• Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology

Eclogites from the deepest structural levels beneath the Semail ophiolite, Oman, record the subduction and later exhumation of the Arabian continental margin. Published ages for this high pressure event reveal large discrepancies between the crystallisation ages of certain eclogite-facies minerals and apparent cooling ages of micas. We present precise U-Pb zircon (78.95 ± 0.13 Ma) and rutile (79.6 ± 1.1 Ma) ages for the eclogites, as well as new U-Pb zircon ages for trondhjemites from the Semail ophiolite (95.3 ± 0.2 Ma) and amphibolites from the metamorphic sole (94.48 ± 0.23 Ma). The new eclogite ages reinforce published U-Pb zircon and Rb-Sr mineral-whole rock isochron ages, yet are inconsistent with published interpretations of older 40Ar/39Ar phengite and Sm-Nd garnet dates. We show that the available U-Pb and Rb-Sr ages, which are in tight agreement, fit better with the available geological evidence, and suggest that peak metamorphism of the continental margin occurred during the later stages of ophiolite emplacement.