Example of ensialic ophiolites emplaced in a wrench zone: Innermost Hellenic ophiolite belt (Greek Macedonia)

The innermost Hellenic ophiolite belt of northern Greece comprises discontinuous ophiolites of the Guevgueli and Chalkidiki complexes. Field, structural, chemical, and geochronological data indicate that they are broadly autochthonous and were emplaced into continental crust along a northwest-southeast wrench zone during the Middle and Late Jurassic. Variations in structure and petrology along the belt can be related to changes in the tectonics of emplacement from extensional to transcurrent.