OPHIOLITES AND OCEANIC CRUST: NEW INSIGHTS FROM FIELD STUDIES AND THE OCEAN DRILLING PROGRAM

Every few years the people who work on ophiolites and the people who work on oceanic crust decide that it is time to get together and compare notes. The ophiolite people are primarily but not exclusively traditional “land” geologists who combine geologic mapping with structural, petrologic, and geochemical studies; the ocean crust people are primarily (but not exclusively) marine geologists and geophysicists who drill and dive on the real thing. There is some overlap of people who do both, but since most do either one or the other, these get-togethers are a critical reality check for everyone. GSA Special Paper 349 “Ophiolites and Oceanic Crust: New Insights from Field Studies and the Ocean Drilling Program,” presents results from a Penrose Conference on this topic convened by the editors in 1999 in northern California. In Penrose tradition, the meeting combined keynote speakers, short oral presentations, and poster sessions with extended discussion sessions, moderated and summarized, on the …