Geosite 46, Chandria, Limassol District, Cyprusi

Regional Level Types
Geosite 46	Outcrop (Active)
Chandria	Village
Limassol District	District
Cyprus	Country

UNESCO Global Network of GEOPARKS locality.

Cumulate rocks of the upper level of the magmatic chamber

Multiple intrusions

The area reveals the complexity of magmatic events towards the top of accumulated events (these rocks formed when the magma solidified slowly in a reservoir in the earth's crust, the well-known magma chambers). At this road section, which immediately underlies the sheeted dykes, the oldest rock are dark olivine-gabbro, pale gabbro and dark poikilitic wehrlite. Pale gabbro is the most abundant rock type and is strongly foliated, while olivine gabbro exhibits layering. Both may be the product of deformation. The gabbros have been repeatedly intruded by younger intrusions. First, it is intruded by a white weathered plagiogranite dyke with poorly visible chilled margins. The plagiogranite is composed mainly of quartz and plagioclase but epidote is a common secondary mineral. Later, both the gabbros and plagiogranite are intruded by a number of near-vertical light-grey, weathered microgabbroic dykes that show well-developed chilled margins. Finally, the last intrusive event appears to be a series of vertical basaltic dykes with chilled margins on both sides, crosscutting all other features. The chilled margins on one of these dykes show that it has solidified in-between other already solidified and cooled material.

The road-cut section here provides a fantastic example of multiple magmatic activities and the existence of multiple magma chambers during the formation of the Troodos Ophiolite Complex since older accumulated rocks are crosscut repeatedly by younger dykes of different compositions.

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