Structure and tectonics of a subophiolitic melange (Zavordas melange) of the Vourinos ophiolite (Greece) and kinematics of ophiolite emplacement

This thesis describes the lithology, structure, and tectonics of the Zavordas melange, which occurs structurally beneath the Jurassic Vourinos ophiolite in Northern Greece. This ophiolite is part of the Dinaride-Hellenide ophiolite belt developed during collapse of a Mesozoic marginal basin (Pindos basin) in the western termination of Neotethys. The main focus of the study was to document the lithology of the melange, its spatial and temporal relationship to the ophiolite and underlying basement, and its history of accretion and obduction onto the continental margin. Research techniques included thematic mapping, structural and petrographic analysis of the melange units and adjacent rocks, and tectonic reconstructions. The Zavordas melange contains rift-related volcanic and sedimentary rocks in a pebbly mudstone matrix and displays lower greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic grades. The structural fabric in the melange units indicates tectonic transport to the NE (ophiolite emplacement) overprinted by dextral-slip deformation (Apulian collision), in the Cenozoic.