Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
3,915,875,075 visitors served.
forum Join the Word of the Day Mailing List For webmasters
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

ophiolite suite

    0.01 sec.
ophiolite suite  (f--lt, f-)
A sequence of rocks consisting of deep-sea marine sediments overlying (from top to bottom) pillow basalts, sheeted dikes, gabbro, dunite, and peridotite. Ophiolite sequences are indicators of sea-floor spreading where the oceanic crust is thinned by the forces of plate tectonics, and magma rises to the sea's floor and generates new crust. As lava spills out into the cold ocean water it forms pillow basalts; magma that cools before reaching the surface forms sheeted dikes (dikes that appear to be vertically stratified because of the way the magma cools). Magma cooling deeper in the crust forms gabbro, dunite, and peridotite.
click for a larger image
ophiolite suite


Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Feedback
Add definition
Mentioned in?  References in periodicals archive?   Dictionary browser?   Full browser?
No references found
 
Rock associations typical of the ophiolite suite of Aubouin (1965) had already been described by Leech (1953).
 
 
 
Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Translations
?

Terms of Use | Privacy policy | Feedback | Advertise with Us | Copyright © 2012 Farlex, Inc.
Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.