The Dun Mountain ultramafic belt Permian oceanic crust and upper mantle in New Zealand

Geologic evidence suggests that the Dun Mountain ultramafic belt in New Zealand is the basal part of a Lower Permian ophiolite suite. By analogy with other ophiolite suites, and as a result of marine geophysical studies of the present ocean basins, the ophiolite is believed to represent oceanic crust and upper mantle upon which the Upper Permian Maitai Group was deposited. After this, much of the ultramafic belt was extensively deformed to tectonic melange.