The metabasites cropping out in the Sierra del Algarrobo have been studied from petrological and
geochemical points of view. They consist of gabbros, dolerites and basalts, which were transformed into
eclogites or amphibolites during the Alpine metamorphism. Their primary magmas were tholeiitic basalts
originated in E-MORB to N-MORB geodynamic conditions. By comparing these metabasites with those of
the Betic and Alpine-Apennine Ophiolites and with basalts from current oceanic ridges, we classify them
as ophiolitic and tectonically deriving from the oceanic floor of the Jurassic Western Tethys