| Abstract: | The succession recovered in ODP hole 107–651 in the young oceanic Vavilov basin (Tyrrhenian Sea) comprises, beneath a thick Pleistocene to Upper Pliocene sedimentary cover (chiefly volcanoclastics), four basement units: (1) MORB-type basaltic pillows and breccias; (2) a complex succession made of dolerites, albitites, basaltic breccias, metadolerite pebbles (including an intercalated sandy layer with periodotite clasts); (3) MORB-type basaltic pillows and breccias; (4) highly serpentinized peridotite. Between units 3 and 4, granitoid pebbles occur.This sequence is surprisingly similar to successions known in the Western Alps' Tethyan ophiolites. There, the sediments (Callovian-Oxfordian radiolarian cherts) lie stratigraphically upon breccias mostly derived from underlying serpentinite, and sometimes gabbroic basement. At some places, thin basaltic (tholeiitic) pillows and breccias occur between the radiolarian cherts and the breccias.From the comparison between a present day setting (the central Tyrrhenian Sea) and a formerly emplaced basement succession (the Western Alps), we stress the following (a) both the here-discussed ophiolites and oceanic basement are different from classical ophiolite sequences; (b) both occurrences imply unroofing of mantle rocks that therefore were directly outcropping on the seafloor; (c) such a comparison may indicate a very slow spreading rate for the Alpine Tethyan ocean. |
