WITNESSES OF THE NEO-TETHYS OCEAN IN SOUTHEAST IRAN: A REVIEW OF THE LATE JURASSIC-CRETACEOUS OPHIOLITES OF THE NORTH MAKRAN DOMAIN

This review compiles and integrates available stratigraphic, structural, petrological, geochemical, and geochronological data on subduction-related and subduction-unrelated ophiolites in the North Makran domain (southeastern Iran) to reconstruct the formation, evolution, and incorporation of Neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere within the Makran Accretionary Prism. The data indicate a multi-stage geodynamic evolution, beginning in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, when oceanic lithosphere formed predominantly in a mid-ocean ridge setting, locally influenced by plume-related components. During the Early Cretaceous, the initiation of an intra-oceanic subduction zone led to the formation of forearc lithosphere and to the progressive separation of the North Makran Ocean from the main Neo-Tethys. In the Late Cretaceous, oceanic lithosphere formation became more complex, with the coeval development of plume-related magmatism in seamounts and volcanic arc activity associated with subduction of the North Makran Ocean beneath the Lut Block. This stage records the coexistence of subduction-unrelated and subduction-related magmatic systems within the same oceanic basin. Final closure of the composite oceanic lithosphere of the North Makran Ocean took place from the latest Cretaceous to the Paleocene, through progressive subduction, accretion, and underplating within the Makran Accre-tionary Prism. Overall, the North Makran domain provides a unique natural laboratory for investigating how ridge, plume, and multiple subduction processes interact through time to generate oceanic lithosphere within a convergent plate margin, highlighting the complexity of Neo-Tethyan geodynamic evolution.