A sheeted dyke complex, or sheeted dike complex, is a series of sub-parallel intrusions of igneous rock, forming a layer within the oceanic crust.[1] At mid-ocean ridges, dykes are formed when magma beneath areas of tectonic plate divergence travels through a fracture in the earlier formed oceanic crust, feeding the lavas above and cooling below the seafloor forming upright columns of igneous rock. Magma continues to cool, as the existing seafloor moves away from the area of divergence, and additional magma is intruded and cools. In some tectonic settings slices of the oceanic crust are obducted (emplaced) upon continental crust, forming an ophiolite.[1][2][3]
- ^ a b Phillips-Lander, Charity M.; Dilek, Yildirim (March 2009). "Structural architecture of the sheeted dike complex and extensional tectonics of the Jurassic Mirdita ophiolite, Albania". Lithos. 108 (1–4): 192–206. Bibcode:2009Litho.108..192P. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2008.09.014.
- ^ Karson, Jeffrey A. (2019). "From Ophiolites to Oceanic Crust: Sheeted Dike Complexes and Seafloor Spreading". In Srivastava, R.; Ernst, R.; Peng, P. (eds.). Dyke Swarms of the World: A Modern Perspective. Springer Geology. Singapore: Springer. pp. 459–492. doi:10.1007/978-981-13-1666-1_13. ISBN 978-981-13-1665-4.
- ^ Schmincke, Hans-Ulrich (2004). Volcanism. New York: Springer-Verlag. pp. 61–62. ISBN 3-540-43650-2.
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