Triassic rift-type basalts and related deep-water sediments in the ophiolite belt of the Dinarides-Hellenides-Taurides-Zagros

Triassic rift related magmatism was dominantly intermediate in character. It produced basalts, andesites and dacite at the extrusive level, and gabbro, diorite, granosyenite and granite in the intrusive levels and lasted at least 40 to 50 Ma. It is spatially and genetically related to the volcanosedimentary formation as the foundation of the Gondwana passive continental margin and later on covered mostly by the Mesozoic carbonate platform sediments. Its equivalents in time, on the EuroAsian diverging margin, are not easily recognized. They were subjected to long-term destructive, subduction related processes, during convergence, since Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times. However, rifting metallogeny, randering MVT and SEDEX deposits in symetrical manner between Dinaridic carbonate platform on the Gondwana passiv margin and Moesian carbonate platform on the EuroAsian countarpart, also places triassic magmatism into the advanced intracontinental rifting. The spatial extension of these phenomena can be traced along the whole Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt, from Alps, Dinarides, Albanides, Hellenides, Taurides, Oman Mts., and Zagros. The intensity of the magmatism ceased down with the opening of the Neo-Tethys, accompanied by ophiolite formation, as a result of the sea-floor spreading. Study of Triassic magmatism and its products, including ore deposits, is the key to palinspastic interpretation and geological evolution of the Neo-Tethys history. A heralding sign of the Neo-tethyan birst is a unique appearance of two remarkable evidences, Triassic rift-type basalts and deep water Hallstatt sediments, usually joint in the mélanges, within the footwalls or on the heads of the ofiolitic slabs.