The radiolarian age and petrographic composition of a block of the Lower Jurassic volcaniclastic breccia and chert of the Mamonia Complex, SW Cyprus

Abstract

An exceptional exposure of volcaniclastic breccia intercalated with radiolarian cherts and limestones was studied which constitutes a unique block within the Upper Cretaceous Mamonia Mélange in the Akamas Peninsula of southwestern Cyprus. This breccia, represents the lower part of the sedimentary cover of the Upper Triassic Phasoula Formation volcanics. The breccia mainly consists of clasts of metabasalts, diabases, metagabbros, hyaloclastites and quartz-albite-chlorite-epidote aggregates, which have been metamorphosed at greenschist facies, and subordinate siltstones. The thin-bedded cherts intercalated between breccia levels, yielded radiolarian assemblages, which indicate an Early Jurassic age (Sinemurian to Pliensbachian) for the sequence.