View source for Payson ophiolite

{{Infobox rockunit
| name           = Payson ophiolite
| image          =
| caption        =
| type           = 
| age            = {{long fossil range|1730|1730|Statherian}}
| period         = Statherian
| prilithology   = [[basalt]], [[gabbro]]
| otherlithology =
| namedfor       = [[Payson, Arizona]]
| namedby        = J.C. Dann
| year_ts        = 1991
| region         = {{flag|Arizona}}<br />Arizona
| country        = United States
| coordinates    = {{coord|34.18|N|111.34|W|display=inline}}
| unitof         =
| subunits       =
| underlies      = [[Tonto Basin Supergroup]]
| overlies       = [[Larson Spring Formation]]
| thickness      =
| extent         =
| area           =
| map ={{Location map+ | United States#Arizona
| relief = 1
| width   = 250
| float   = center
| places  =
  {{Location map~ | United States#Arizona
  | lat_deg = 34.18
  | lon_deg = -111.34
  | mark = Pink pog.svg
  | marksize = 12
  }}
}}
| map_caption    =
}}

The '''Payson ophiolite''' is an [[ophiolite]] of [[Statherian]] age (late [[Paleoproterozoic]]) located near [[Payson, Arizona]], US.

==Description==
The Payson ophiolite crops out south and west of the town of Payson, Arizona, in the [[Arizona transition zone]] between the [[Colorado Plateau]] and the [[Basin and Range Province|Basin and Range]].<ref name="Dunn 1991">{{cite journal |last1=Dann |first1=Jesse C. |title=Early Proterozoic ophiolite, central Arizona |journal=Geology |date=1 June 1991 |volume=19 |issue=6 |pages=590–593 |doi=10.1130/0091-7613(1991)019<0590:EPOCA>2.3.CO;2}}</ref> It consists of a well-developed [[sheeted dyke complex]] that grades below into [[gabbroic]] rock and above into submarine [[volcanic rock]]. The whole sequence dips gently (by about 15 degrees) to the southwest. The ophiolite is exposed over a sizable area and is little deformed, with metamorphism limited to the lower [[greenschist facies]]. Much of the gabbro is essentially unaltered.<ref name="Dann2004">{{cite journal |last1=Dann |first1=J.C. |title=The 1.73 Ga Payson Ophiolite, Arizona, USA |journal=Developments in Precambrian Geology |date=2004 |volume=13 |pages=73–93 |doi=10.1016/S0166-2635(04)13002-8}}</ref>

The ophiolite is intruded by a [[Sill (geology)|sill]] of [[granitic rock]], the [[Payson Granite]], which conceals the deepest layers of the ophiolite, including the entire [[ultramafic]] [[Earth's mantle|mantle]] portion of the ophiolite. The deepest accessible layers are the [[gabbronorite]] of Round Valley.<ref name="Dann2004"/> Regionally, the ophiolite is thought to be overlain by the [[Tonto Basin Supergroup]].<ref name="CoxEtal2002">{{cite journal |last1=Cox |first1=Rónadh |last2=Martin |first2=Mark W. |last3=Comstock |first3=Jana C. |last4=Dickerson |first4=Laura S. |last5=Ekstrom |first5=Ingrid L. |last6=Sammons |first6=James H. |title=Sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geochronology of the Proterozoic Mazatzal Group, central Arizona |journal=GSA Bulletin |date=1 December 2002 |volume=114 |issue=12 |pages=1535–1549 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114<1535:SSAGOT>2.0.CO;2}}</ref>

===Origin and Tectonics===
The ophiolite is part of the [[Mazatzal orogeny|Mazatzal]] block, a [[terrane]] {{convert|50 to 60|km||sp=us}} wide on the eastern end of the [[Arizona transition zone]]. The Payson ophiolite lies on a basement of [[granitic rock]] overlain by [[felsic]] volcanic and [[volcaniclastic]] rock of the [[Larson Spring Formation]]. This shows that the ophiolite was emplaced by rifting of an existing island arc, which likely produced a [[pull-apart basin]].<ref name="Dann2004"/><ref name="CoxEtal2002"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Ophiolites]]
[[Category:Precambrian Arizona]]