Triassic igneous rocks of the Dolomites are typical shoshonites, with high K2O/SiO2 and K2O/Na2O ratios, and low Fe contents. They have mid-ocean ridge basalt-like abundances of high field strength elements but are highly enriched in large ion lithophile (LIL) elements (Rb, Sr, Ba, K). The effects of crustal contamination and fractional crystallization have been superimposed on initial LIL element enrichment. Lavas of similar composition occur in Papua, New Guinea, Fiji, the Absaroka Mountains, and the Eolian Islands. These suites are all associated with destructive plate margins but were not erupted until after subduction had ceased. Examination of Mediterranean paleogeography indicates that no subduction event which could have given rise to the shoshonites of the Dolomites occurred during the Triasics. In fact, the tectonic setting at the time of eruption of the lavas was probably one of strike-slip faulting. The suite may have inherited its ''arc signature'' from Permo-Carboniferous subduction of the ocean between Laurasia and Gondawanaland prior to the Hercynian orogeny. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1989