AN UNUSUAL TOURMALINE COMPOSITION FROM SITHONIA PENINSULA (NORTHERN GREECE)

Η ποικιλία και το εύρος των υποκαταστάσεων που παρουσιάζονται στην ομάδα του τουρμαλίνη, κυρίως στις θέσεις Ζ, Υ και Χ, καθιστά δυνατό τον προσδιορισμό ενός σημαντικού αριθμού πραγματικών και υποθετικών ακραίων μελών. Βέβαια σε μερικές περιπτώσεις αυτό δεν είναι τόσο εύκολο. Ωστόσο, ο προσδιορισμός της % χημικής σύστασης του βοηθά στον καθορισμό παραμέτρων που σχετίζονται με το περιβάλλον γέννεσής του. Σε αυτή την εργασία παρατίθεται η μεθοδολογία που ακολουθήθηκε για τον προσδιορισμό των συστατικών μιας σύνθετης μορφής τουρμαλίνη που απαντά στη χερσόνησο της Σιθωνίας. Ο τουρμαλίνης αυτός, που έχει υπιδιόμορφο ή πιο συχνά αλλοτριόμορφο σχήμα, εντοπίστηκε να γεμίζει με πλήθος μικρών κρυστάλλων του παράλληλες μικρο-διακλάσεις στον χαλαζιακό πυρήνα πηγματιτικής φλέβας. Η σύσταση του οδηγεί στο συμπέρασμα ότι πρόκειται μάλλον για μέλος ασυνήθους στερεού διαλύματος. Χαρακτηρίζεται από σημαντικό έλλειμμα ΑΙ ( ΑΙ Fe και Να που υπερτερεί στη θέση Χ. Με βάση τη σύσταση και το χημισμό του κρυστάλλου, θεωρείται ότι το Mg και ο Fe σχετίζονται με μέλος της σειράς ουβίτη - φερουβίτη, ενώ ένα σημαντικό μέρος του ολικού σιδήρου σε τρισθενή μορφή δίνει ένα ποβονδραϊτικό συστατικό, σύμφωνα επίσης και με το Να στην θέση Χ. Αυτά τα δεδομένα, σε συνδυασμό με το θεωρητικό υπολογισμό του αθροίσματος των δεσμών σθένους που επιτρέπει τον προσδιορισμό της παρουσίας ανιόντων OH στη θέση W, μας ενισχύει την άποψη ότι ο τουρμαλίνης της Σιθωνίας ανήκει σε νέα ποικιλία με ονομασία νατρούχος ποβονδραϊτικός υδροξυλ- ουβίτης-φερουβίτης. Με βάση τη σύσταση, τη δομή και τις τάσεις ζώνωσης που παρουσιάζουν τα κύρια στοιχεία των θέσεων Υ και Χ, αυτός ο τουρμαλίνης μπορεί να θεωρηθεί ως μετα-μαγματικής γένεσης, πιθανά με τη συνδρομή υδροθερμικών ρευστών.The variety and wideness of substitutions shown by tourmaline group, mainly in the Ζ, Y and X sites, make possible a high number of real and hypothetical endmembers. However in some cases it is not so obvious to determine to what endmembers to refer to, but the wide stability field of tourmaline and its occurrence in different geological environments make useful to define the composition as percentages of end-members to trace back to its genesis. In this paper the followed procedure to identify the components of a complex tourmaline is given. During a study on the granitoid intrusions outcropping on Sithonia, Chalkidiki Peninsula (Northern Greece), a swarm of very small crystals of tourmaline, subhedral or more often allotriomorphic, has been found as stuffing of subparallel micro fractures in the quartz core of a pegmatite dike. Their composition, analysed by EMPA, turns out to be rather unusual and not satisfactorily referable to so far proposed solid solutions. It is characterized by remarkable Al deficiency (ZAl Fe and Να dominating X site. On the basis of compositional and crystal-chemical evidences, supported by previous literature, it was hypothesized that Mg and Fe have to be referred to an uvite — feruvite component, while the considerable part of total iron in its trivalent oxidation state yields a povondraitic component according also with Na in X site. These data, coupled with a theoretical evaluation of bond valence sum (B VS) that allowed inferring the presence of OFT anions in the W site, make reasonable to consider Sithonia tourmaline as the new variety sodian povondraitic hydroxil uviteferuvite. On the basis of its composition, of its fabric and of the oscillatory trends shown by the main elements of Y and X sites, this tourmaline may be considered post magmatic likely of hydrothermal genesis

Boninitic and tholeiitic basaltic lavas and dikes from dispersed Jurassic East Othris ophiolitic units, Greece: petrogenesis and geodynamic implications

Pillow lavas, massive lava flows, and sub-volcanic dikes of tholeiitic basaltic composition are found to be members of the Vrinena, Aerino, Eretria, and Velestino dispersed Middle–Upper Jurassic ophiolitic units in East Othris. The Vrinena and Eretria ophiolitic units appear to have been emplaced onto the Pelagonian continental margin during the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous, whereas the Aerino and Velestino units seem to have been finally emplaced during post-Palaeocene times. Geochemically these are divided into two groups: Group I includes subduction-related boninites and low-Ti basalts from the Vrinena and Aerino units, and Group II high-Ti basalts show spreading-type characteristics occurring in the Eretria and Velestino units. Primary magma of the Group I volcanics appears to have been formed after high partial melting degrees (~18%) of a highly depleted harzburgitic mantle source, under relatively high temperatures (mantle potential temperature ~1372°C). Petrogenetic modelling also suggests that the primary magma of the Group II volcanics were formed after lower partial melting degrees (~7%) of a moderately depleted mantle source. The petrological and geochemical data from the East Othris dispersed and diversely emplaced ophiolitic units provide evidence of a common intra-oceanic supra-subduction zone (SSZ) origin within the Pindos oceanic strand of the Western Tethys. Specifically, Group I lavas and dikes from Vrinena seem to represent the extrusive part of an almost complete fore- to island-arc ophiolitic sequence. Dikes of Aerino most likely correspond to fore-arc magmatic material that intruded within exhumed serpentinized ultramafic rocks through a subduction channel that developed close to the slab and towards the fore-arc and the accretionary prism. The Group II volcanics either corresponded to a fore-arc magmatic expression, which extruded earlier than Group I volcanics and prior to the establishment of a mature subduction zone, or represent back-arc to island-arc magmatism that was contemporaneous to the fore-arc magmatic activity during rollback subduction. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Composition, melting and evolution of the upper mantle beneath the Jurassic Pindos ocean inferred by ophiolitic ultramafic rocks in East Othris, Greece

Large ultramafic bodies of the East Othris ophiolite in Central Greece consist of serpentinites, of harzburgite precursors, as well as serpentinized lherzolites, which have been intruded by thin dykes of olivine-rich and olivine-poor pyroxenites. They represent parts of partially altered upper mantle wedge rocks in a Mid-Late Jurassic intraoceanic subduction setting of the Pindos microocean, a western strand of the Tethyan oceanic realm. Serpentinization and rodingitization occurred during their exhumation toward the fore-arc oceanic region and accretionary prism through a subduction channel. Petrography and geochemistry show that protoliths of most serpentinites and serpentinized peridotites are harzburgites, while few are more fertile lherzolites. Petrogenetic modeling reveals that the former harzburgites correspond to highly depleted residual mantle peridotites, which formed after moderate degrees (~13–20 %) of hydrous partial melting, whereas lherzolites, being closely related to the ophiolitic mantle peridotites of West Othris, resulted after lower partial melting degrees (~7–10 %). Mineral chemistry and geochemical data from pyroxenites imply that they have been derived after crystallization of a subduction-related IAT hydrous magma that formed after moderate partial melting degrees (~14–19 %), quite similar to those that produced the harzburgites. Melting processes for the East Othris mantle peridotites occurred in the spinel-stability field, at estimated equilibrium temperatures ranging between 900 and 1,050 °C and pressures between 1.4 and 1.7 GPa, in a rather highly oxidized environment. It is estimated that the primary IAT magma, formed under relatively high temperatures with liquidus temperature at ~1,260 °C and mantle potential temperature at ~1,372 °C. Cooling rates of the shallow mantle beneath the Pindos oceanic basin, from its Mid-Triassic rift/drift phase and the subsequently developed Mid-Late Triassic short-lived intraoceanic subduction, to the Mid-Late Jurassic main subduction phase, are estimated at ~0.7 and ~1.6 °C/Ma, respectively, with the latter being considered as unusually high. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Petrogenetic implications for ophiolite ultramafic bodies from lokris and beotia (central greece) based on chemistry of their Cr-spinels

Cr-spinels from ultramafic rocks from Lokris (Megaplatanos and Tragana), and Beotia (Ypato and Alyki) ophiolitic occurrences were studied. These rocks comprise principally harzburgite with minor dunite. Small amounts of clinopyroxene-rich harzburgite and lherzolite have been observed along with the harzburgite in Alyki. The Cr# in the studied spinels displays a wide variability. The spinels hosted in harzburgite and cpx-rich harzburgite display low Cr# (<0.6), typical for oceanic (including back-arc basins) ophiolites, whereas the spinels hosted in dunite with Cr# (>0.6) characterize arc-related ophiolitic sequences. Cr-spinels from Alyki indicate a moderate fertile character and are analogous to those from abyssal peridotites. The dunitic and harzburgitic spinel-olivine pairs are consistent with a Supra-Subduction Zone origin. The relatively large range in spinel Cr# and Mg# may have been resulted from a wide range of degrees of mantle melting during the evolution of the host peridotites. © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

MARGINAL BASIN - VOLCANIC ARC ORIGIN OF METABASIC ROCKS OF THE CIRCUM-RHODOPE BELT, THRACE, GREECE

In the upper stratigraphic levels of the Thracian Circum-Rhodope Belt, pillowed or massive metavolcanics and metapyroclastic rocks occur. In the deeper part of the stratigraphic column a composite suite of greenschists, cumulate and noncumulate gabbros, metagabbros, serpentinites, chlorite and talc schists are found. Detailed petrographical study revealed that the metavolcanics consist of four lava types. From the basic to the more evolved types, these lavas are: pyroxeno-phyric lavas, aphyric oligophyric lavas, albite-rich lavas and porphyric felsites. Based on geochemical criteria the metavolcanics are classified as tholeiitic basalts and andesites, to dacite-rhyodacites. The content of MgO, Cr, Ni, TiO2, Zr and REE, and some petrographic features of the pyroxeno-phyric lavas suggest boninitic affinities. The projection of chemical data on several discrimination diagrams, the REE patterns, the occurrence of lavas with boninitic affinity, the chemistry of clinopyroxenes, the crystallization sequence of the primary minerals, the presence of both basic and more evolved volcanic rocks, as well as the high ratio LIL/HFS indicate that the protoliths of the metavolcanics were formed in an immature island arc setting. The greenschists present both weak MORB and strong VAB characters suggesting that their protoliths developed in a short-lived back-arc basin. As the whole sequence of the metabasic and meta-ultrabasic rocks of the Thracian Circum-Rhodope Belt would be considered as an incomplete and dismembered ophiolite, the geodynamical environment of its formation is assumed to be a system of volcanic arc-marginal basin. Both subducted and obducted slabs were parts of the Palaeotethys oceanic realm, while the system was situated along the continental margin of the Rhodope Massif

Rift and intra-oceanic subduction signatures in the Western Tethys during the Triassic: The case of ultramafic lavas as part of an unusual ultramafic-mafic-felsic suite in Othris, Greece

The Triassic igneous rocks of Othris, Greece, exhibit unusual and extreme compositional variations. Abundant E-MORB and rare OIB alkaline basalts appear to be linked to NW Gondwana (Apulia) margin rifting, Pelagonian microcontinent detachment and opening of the Pindos oceanic strand at Western Tethys. They are spatially associated with wehrlites, ultramafic lavas, picrites, transitional boninites, tholeiitic basaltic andesites and calc-alkaline andesitic to rhyodacitic rocks, whose new geochemical and petrological data suggest that they were formed in a short-lived subduction system, developed shortly after rifting/opening within the Pindos ocean. OIB alkaline basalts seem to have been formed from an enriched, possibly garnet bearing mantle source, while formation of E-MORB basalts may represent partial melts (~. 20%) of an enriched mantle source. The liquidus temperature for the primary rift-related magma is estimated at ~. 1330. °C, while mantle potential temperature reached ~. 1435. °C, with ~. 14. wt.% MgO. Subduction-related rocks were produced after differentiation of primary picritic magma, generated after ~. 32% partial melting of a fertile mantle source within the newly formed mantle wedge. Temperature conditions were similar to those calculated for the rift-related primary magma, but with higher MgO contents (~. 16. wt.%). Olivine and clinopyroxene accumulation of a batch of the subduction-related primary magma led to the formation of ultramafic magma under hydrous conditions. Wehrlites represent ultramafic magma stacked at the bottom of a magma chamber. Ultramafic lavas were formed when ultramafic magma was brought to the surface, most likely with the aid of an upwelling asthenospheric E-MORB flow passing through a slab break-off or by the bottom edge of the infant slab. The remainder of the primary picritic magma underwent variable degrees of fractional crystallization forming transitional boninites and tholeiitic basaltic andesites in a front-arc setting and calc-alkaline intermediate and felsic rocks in places closer to the passive margin of the Pelagonian microcontinent. © 2012 Elsevier B.V