ABSTRACT Ophiolite complexes represent fragments of ocean crust and mantle formed at spreading centers and emplaced on land. The setting of their origin, whether at mid-ocean ridges, back-arc basins, or forearc basins has been debated. Geochemical classification of many ophiolite extrusive rocks reflect an approach interpreting their tectonic environment as the same as rocks with similar compositions formed in various modern oceanic settings. This approach has pointed to the formation of many ophiolitic extrusive rocks in a supra-subduction zone (SSZ) environment. Paradoxically, structural and stratigraphic evidence suggests that many apparent SSZ-produced ophiolite complexes are more consistent with mid-ocean ridge settings. Compositions of lavas in the southeastern Indian Ocean resemble those of modern SSZ environments and SSZ ophiolites, although Indian Ocean lavas clearly formed in a mid-ocean ridge setting. These facts suggest that an interpretation of the tectonic environment of ophiolite formation based solely on their geochemistry may be unwarranted. New seismic images revealing extensive Mesozoic subduction zones beneath the southern Indian Ocean provide one mechanism to explain this apparent paradox. Cenozoic mid-ocean-ridge–derived ocean floor throughout the southern Indian Ocean apparently formed above former sites of subduction. Compositional remnants of previously subducted mantle in the upper mantle were involved in generation of mid-ocean ridge lavas. The concept of historical contingency may help resolve the ambiguity on understanding the environment of origin of ophiolites. Many ophiolites with “SSZ” compositions may have formed in a mid-ocean ridge setting such as the southeastern Indian Ocean.

Abstract We present a synthesis based on the interpretation of two pairs of deep seismic reflection crustal sections within the Southern Rift System (SRS) separating Australia and Antarctica. One pair of sections is from the conjugate margins between the Great Australian Bight (GAB) and Wilkes Land, in the central sector of the SRS, which broke up in the Campanian. The second pair of conjugate sections is located approximately 400 km further east, between the Otway Basin and Terre Adélie, which probably broke up in Maastrichtian time. Interpretations are based on an integrated synthesis of deep multi-channel seismic, gravity and magnetic data, together with sparse sonobuoy and dredging information, and the conjugate sections are presented with the oceanic crust removed beyond the continent–ocean boundary (COB). At first order, both conjugate pairs show a transition from thinned continental crust, through a wide and internally complex continent–ocean transition zone (COTZ), which shows features in common with magma-poor rifted margins worldwide, such as basement ridges interpreted as exhumed subcontinental mantle. In the central GAB sector, the COTZ is symmetric around the point of break-up and displays a pair of mantle ridges, one on each margin, outboard of which lies a deep-water rift basin. Break-up has occurred in the centre of this basin in this sector of the SRS. In contrast, the Terre Adélie margin is nearly 600 km wide and shows an abandoned crustal megaboudin, the Adélie Rift Block. This block is underlain by interpreted middle crust, and appears to have a mantle ridge structure inboard, as well as an outboard exhumed mantle complex from which mylonitized harzburgite has been dredged. The conjugate margin of the Beachport Sub-basin is relatively narrow ( c. 100 km wide) and does not appear to contain an exhumed mantle ridge, as observed along strike in the GAB. These observations from a single rift spreading compartment show that radically different break-up symmetries and margin architectures can result from an essentially symmetric rifting process involving multiple, paired detachment systems. This indicates the need for caution in interpreting causative mechanisms of rifting from limited conjugate sections in other rifts. We speculate that the underlying crustal composition, rheology and structural preconditioning play a significant role in partitioning strain during the transition to break-up.

Suprasubduction-zone ophiolites have been recognized in the geologic record for over thirty years. These ophiolites are essentially intact structurally and stratigraphically, show evidence for synmagmatic extension, and contain lavas with geochemical characteristics of arc-volcanic rocks. They are now inferred to have formed by hinge retreat in the forearc of nascent or reconfigured island arcs. Emplacement of these forearc assemblages onto the leading edge of partially subducted continental margins is a normal part of their evolution. A recent paper has challenged this interpretation. The authors assert that the “ophiolite conundrum” (seafloor spreading shown by dike complexes versus arc geochemistry) can be resolved by a model called “historical contingency,” which holds that most ophiolites form at mid-ocean ridges that tap upper-mantle sources previously modified by subduction. They support this model with examples of modern mid-ocean ridges where suprasubduction zone–like compositions have been detected (e.g., ridge-trench triple junctions). The historical contingency model is flawed for several reasons: (1) the major- and trace-element compositions of magmatic rocks in suprasubduction-zone ophiolites strongly resemble rocks formed in primitive island-arc settings and exhibit distinct differences from rocks formed at mid-ocean-ridge spreading centers; (2) slab-influenced compositions reported from modern ridge-trench triple junctions and subduction reversals are subtle and/or do not compare favorably with either modern subduction zones or suprasubduction-zone ophiolites; (3) crystallization sequences, hydrous minerals, miarolitic cavities, and reaction textures in suprasubduction-zone ophiolites imply crystallization from magmas with high water activities, rather than mid-ocean-ridge systems; (4) models of whole Earth convection, subduction recycling, and ocean-island basalt isotopic compositions ignore the fact that these components represent the residue of slab melting, not the low field strength element–enriched component found in active arc-volcanic suites and suprasubduction-zone ophiolites; and (5) isotopic components indicative of mantle heterogeneities (related to subduction recycling) are observed in modern mid-ocean-ridge basalts (MORB), but, in contrast to the prediction of the historical contingency model, these basalts do not exhibit suprasubduction zone–like geochemistry. The formation of suprasubduction-zone ophiolites in the upper plate of subduction zones favors intact preservation either by obduction onto a passive continental margin, or by accretionary uplift above a subduction zone. Ophiolites characterized by lavas with MORB geochemistry are typically disrupted and found as fragments in accretionary complexes (e.g., Franciscan), in contrast to suprasubduction-zone ophiolites. This must result from the fact that oceanic crust is unlikely to be obducted for mechanical reasons, but it may be preserved where it is scraped off of the subducting slab.