Introduction

Abstract

Ophiolites are key sources of information regarding the genesis and evolution of oceanic lithosphere. Over the past decades, the geological study of ophiolites has provided a wealth of insight into lithospheric processes and has proved to be an indispensible prerequisite to interpreting geophysical and other investigations of the crust underlying recent oceans. The Oman Ophiolite offers the most complete and structurally undisturbed sections of the oceanic crust in vast, clean exposures. It is, therefore, most fortunate for the scientific community that Mhd. Kassim, Director General of Minerals and Dr. Hilal Al Azri, Director of the Geological Survey, took upon themselves the task of organizing in Oman an international meeting on ophiolites.