Petrology and geochemistry of post-collisional Middle Eocene volcanic units in North-Central Turkey: Evidence for magma generation by slab breakoff following the closure of the Northern Neotethys Ocean

The Eocene volcano-sedimentary units of Northern Anatolia are confined into a narrow zone trending parallel to the Intra Pontide and Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan sutures, along which the northern branch of the Neotethys Ocean was closed during a period between Late Maastrichtian and Paleocene. The Middle Eocene formations overlie both the imbricated and highly deformed units of the suture zone, which are Paleocene or older in age, as well as the formations of adjacent continental blocks with a regional disconformity. Therefore, they can be regarded to be post-collisional. These units are composed of subaerial to shallow marine sedimentary beds (i.e. the Orencik formation) at the base and a subaerial volcanic unit (i.e. the Hamamozu formation) in the middle and at the top. This sudden facies change from marine to subaerial environment in the Middle Eocene is a common phenomenon across northern Turkey, implying that a regional uplift event occurred possibly across the suture zone before the initiation of the volcanism during Lutetian. The Middle Eocene lavas span the whole compositional range from basalts to rhyolites and display a calc-alkaline character except for alkaline to mildly-alkaline lavas from the top of the sequence. All lavas display a distinct subduction signature. Our geochemical data indicate that calc-alkaline lavas were derived from a subduction-modified source, whereas alkaline to mildly-alkaline lavas of the late stage were possibly sourced by an enriched mantle domain. Magmas evolved in magma chambers emplaced possibly at two different crustal levels. Magmas in deeper (> 13 km) and possibly larger chambers fractionated hydrous mafic minerals (e.g. amphibole and biotite), two pyroxenes and plagioclase and assimilated a significant amount of crustal material. Intermediate to acid calc-alkaline lavas and pyroclastics were derived from these chambers. Magmas in the shallower chambers, on the other hand (similar to< 12 km), crystallized anhydrous mineral assemblages. assimilated little or no crustal material and fed basic to intermediate lavas in the region. Both deep and shallow chambers were periodically replenished by mafic magmas. We argue that a slab breakoff model explains better than any alternative model (i) why the volcanism during the Middle Eocene was confined into a rather narrow belt along the suture zone, (ii) why it initiated almost contemporaneous with a regional uplift after the continental collision event, (iii) why it postdated arc volcanism along the Pontides in the north by 15-20 My, (iv) why it assimilated significant amount of crustal material, and (v) why alkalinity of lavas increased in time. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Volcano Stratigraphic Investigation of the Post-Collisional Middle Eocene Magmatism Around Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan Suture Zone (NE, Turkey)

The obliteration of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean along the northern part of Turkey leads the development of the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone (IAESZ). After the suturing stage; extension and magmatism concomitantly developed on the both sides and along the IAESZ during the middle Eocene. During this stage, the areas confining to Almus, Yildizeli, and Yildizdag regions have experienced a severe magmatic activity. Middle Eocene magmatism in Almus and Yildizeli areas are represented by the volcano-sedimentary successions. Besides, in Yildizdag region, gabbroic and dioritic intrusives are the dominant manifestations of magmatism. The volcano-sedimentary successions from Almus and Yildizeli areas represented by shallow marine sedimentary units at the lower parts and lava flows and volcanoclastic units at the middle to upper parts. Eight volcano-sedimentary sections from Almus and Yildizeli measured to demonstrate the evolution of the magmatic units developed coevally along the both sides of the suture zone. In both regions; three different volcanic episodes are differentiated based on stratigraphy. First episode includes amphibole-basaltic andesite, andesite, and dacite. Second episode contains basalt and pyroxene-basaltic andesite lavas and third episode represented by trachyte and trachyandesite dikes and stocks. The field data from the all regions demonstrated that middle Eocene magmatic units along the post-collision zone concominantly developed in a wide area and triggering of the magmatism controlled by the region-scale delamination and/or lithospheric removal processes

A post-collision slab-breakoff model for the orgin of the Middle Eocene magmatic rocks of the Armutlu-Almacik belt, NW Turkey and its regional implications

Middle Eocene magmatic rocks (MEMR) (49.3 +/- 2 to 38.1 +/- 1.9 Ma) formed an east-west trending belt after continental collision and rest unconformably on pre-Middle Eocene units as a common cover. The origin and tectonic setting of MEMR are controversial as both arc and post-collisional settings are proposed. We present new geological and petrological data from the western part of the belt, between the Armutlu Peninsula and the Almacik Mountains. The MEMR are represented by basic to intermediate volcanic rocks, dykes and coeval granites. The lavas exhibit a continuous trend from basalt to dacite. The MEMR as a whole display low- to medium-K subalkaline (to rarely mildly alkaline) affinities and a calc-alkaline trend. On N-type Mid Ocean Ridge Basalt-normalized spidergrams these rocks display relative enrichment in large ion lithophile elements, slight enrichment in light rare earth elements, but depletion in Ta and Nb. Geochemical data and Sr, Nd, Pb and delta O-18 isotope compositions, coupled with epsilon Nd-(T) values, reveal that the MEMRmagma was of hybrid type, with both depleted sub-continental lithospheric mantle and crustal components. We conclude that the MEMR was produced in a post-collisional setting, and we favour a slab-breakoff mechanism to explain this as it is consistent with the known Middle Eocene tectonic evolution of northwestern Turkey