Early Devonian suprasubduction ophiolites of the southern Urals

The composition of ophiolites widespread in the southern Urals shows that they were formed in a suprasubduction setting. Low-Ti and high-Mg sheeted dikes and volcanic rocks vary from basalt to andesite, and many varieties belong to boninite series. The rocks of this type extend as a 600-km tract. The volcanic rocks contain chert interbeds with Emsian conodonts. Plagiogranites localized at the level of the sheeted dike complex and related to this complex genetically are dated at 400 Ma. The ophiolites make up a base of thick islandarc volcanic sequence. The composition of the igneous rocks and the parameters of their metamorphism indicate that subduction and ascent of a mantle plume participated in their formation. The nonstationary subduction at the intraoceanic convergent plate boundary developed, at least, from the Middle Ordovician.