Abstract
Geoscientific informations from the Japan Sea, a backarc basin between Japan and Siberian continental mass, and from a part of the ophiolite belt along the southern rim of Japan, Mineoka ophiolite belt, are presented to discuss a possible relation between the opening of the Japan Sea and the formation of the ophiolite belt. It is speculated that the Central Japan ophiolite belt was formed by slicing of the lithosphere and uplift of serpentinized mantle peridotite in Miocene. Slicing of the lithosphere was induced by opening of the Shikoku Basin (northern part of the Philippine Sea Plate) shortly after the opening of the Japan Sea.
