Contact Metamorphism by an Ophiolite Peridotite from Neyriz, Iran

Ophiolites are conventionally regarded as fragments of former oceanic lithosphere. Mineralogical and field evidence indicates that peridotite of the Neyriz ophiolite was intruded at high temperature into folded crystalline limestones, forming skarns. This excludes the formation of the ophiolite at a mid-ocean ridge but is consistent with its origin by intrusion during continental rifting.