K-Ar dating of ophiolites from Rhodes and Karpathos islands, Dodekanese, Greece

Geochronology of the ophiolites of Rhodes and Karpathos islands, Dodecanese, Greece, has been done by dating mineral concentrates from magmatic (hornblende gabbros) and metamorphic rocks at the base of ophiolites (amphibolites) by the K-Ar metnod. The dated rocks come from a heterogeneous chaotic mixture of the ophiolitic melange. K-Ar dating revealed different ages for the magmatic and metamorphic rocks, that is 82-88 Ma (Upper Cretaceous) and 160-180 Ma (Middle Jurassic), respectively.
   Based on these results, the ophiolites of Rhodes and Karpathos can be connected to the Upper Cretaceous ophiolite belt of the Taurides, on the one hand, and the Middle Jurassic one of the HellenidesDinarides, on the other. These two islands therefore have an intermediate position between the ophiolite belts of Taurides to the northeast and Hellenides-Dinarides to the northwest.