Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009
High-magnesian andesites outcrop in a subvolcanic complex in the island of Skyros in the central Aegean Sea. Mineralogical indicators of this high-Mg content include bronzite and clinopyroxene phenocrysts, the former with high Cr2O3, and some phlogopite. Plagioclase (oligoclase–andesine) and Fe–Ti oxides were late phases to appear at the liquidus. Whole-rock geochemistry shows trace element features similar to those of subduction-related rocks. Radiometric dating indicates an early Serravallian (middle Miocene) age, approximately synchronous with the onset of post-orogenic rifting and extension of the Aegean Sea. This tectonic setting is consistent with an origin by adiabatic decompression of mantle peridotite previously modified by subduction-related fluids.