Karsli, Orhan; Ketenci, Murat; Uysal, Ibrahim; Dokuz, Abdurrahman; Aydin, Faruk; Chen, Bin; Kandemir, Raif; Wijbrans, Jan

The tectonic setting of the Eastern Pontides during the late Mesozoic to early Cenozoic remains a subject of debate. Petrogenesis of adakite-like granitoid porphyries plays a critical role in determining the nature of the lower continental crust and mantle dynamics during orogenic processes in the region. Here we describe, for the first time, the late Paleocene to early Eocene adakite-like granitoid porphyries from the northern part of the Eastern Pontides although their counterparts in the southern part have recently been found. The adakitic porphyries, which emplaced into the subduction-related Turonian-Santonian volcanics from northern part of the region, consist of I-type calc-alkaline quartz monzonite-tonalite (SiO2 = 62.89-65.07 wt.%) and high-k calc-alkaline granodiorite-granite associations (SiO2 = 69.06-70.43 wt.%). The former displays peraluminous to metaluminous signatures, whereas the latter shows peraluminous geochemical character. The granite-granodiorite porphyries have high K2O (3.32-3.84 wt.%), and low Na2O (3.48-4.61 wt.%) and MgO (0.91-1.04 wt.%) relative to the quartz monzonite-tonalite association (K2O = 1.50-1.92 wt.%; Na2O = 4.08-6.45 wt.%; MgO = 1.44-2.07 wt.%). Ar-Ar geochronology studies on the amphibole separates reveal that the adakite-like porphyries have a crystallization ages of 51.34 +/- 0.27 to 53.55 +/- 0.34 Ma. Here, we contend that these rocks were formed by partial fusion of a mafic lower continental crust in a collisional phase but not in a subduction setting. All the samples exhibit the typical geochemical characteristics of adakite, that is, high Sr (250-1141 ppm), high Sr/Y ratios (16-147), low Y (6.8-14.8 ppm) and low HREE concentrations; they are similar to adakites formed by slab melting associated with the subduction zone. However, the rocks exhibit heterogeneity in isotopic composition, with I-Sr ranging from 0.70554 to 0.70986, epsilon(Nd) (51 Ma) from -8.5 to -0.9 and Nd model ages from 0.72 to 1.26 Ga. The samples are characterized by relatively high Th, Th/U and no significant Eu anomalies, implying that garnet was stable in their source during partial melting. The compositional diversity between rock groups is probably related to partial melting of heterogeneous lower crustal source. All of the features are inconsistent with a slab-melting origin and slab-related petrogenetic model, but instead, they favor an origin by melting of heterogeneous lower continental crust due to a thermal anomaly that was induced by the upwelling of the asthenosphere through a slab break-off in a collisional setting. These interpretations argue against the evidence for the presence of an early Cenozoic arc setting in the Eastern Pontides. Instead, the early Cenozoic time in the region may be attributed to a geodynamic response to a post-collisional uplift phase that occurred along the continent-continent collision between the Pontide and the Anatolide-Tauride blocks. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Wijbrans, Jan; Uysal, İbrahim; Chen, Bın; Karsli, Orhan; Erduran, Murat; Boztuğ, Durmuş; Kandemir, Raif

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Karsli, Orhan; Dokuz, Abdurrahman; Uysal, Ibrahim; Aydin, Faruk; Kandemir, Raif; Wijbrans, Jan

Early Cenozoic (48-50 Ma) adakitic volcanic rocks from the Eastern Pontides, NE Turkey, consist of calc-alkaline and high-K calc-alkaline andesite and dacite, with SiO2 contents ranging from 56.01 to 65.44 wt.%. This is the first time that Early Eocene volcanism and adakites have been reported from the region. The rocks are composed of plagioclase, amphibole, quartz, and Mg-rich biotite. They have high and low-Mg# values ranging from 55 to 62 and 13 to 42, respectively. High-Mg# rocks have higher Ni and Co contents than low-Mg# samples. The rocks exhibit enrichments in large ion lithophile elements including the light rare earth elements, depletions in Nb, Ta and Ti and have high La/Yb and Sr/Y ratios. Their relative high ISr (0.70474-0.70640) and low εNd (50 Ma) values (- 2.3 to 0.8) are inconsistent with an origin as partial melts of a subducted oceanic slab. Combined major- and trace element and Sr-Nd isotope data suggest that the adakitic magmas are related to the unique tectonic setting of this region, where a transition from a collision to an extension stage has created thickening and delamination of the Pontide mafic lower crust at 50 Ma. The high-Mg adakitic magmas resulted from partial melting of the delaminated eclogitic mafic lower crust that sank into the relatively hot subcrustal mantle, and its subsequent interaction with the mantle peridotite during upward transport, leaving garnet as the residual phase, elevates the MgO content and Mg# of the magmas, whereas low-Mg# magmas formed by the melting of newly exposed lower crustal rocks caused by asthenospheric upwelling, which supplies heat flux to the lower crust. The data also suggest that the mafic lower continental crust beneath the region was thickened between the Late Cretaceous and the Late Paleocene and delaminated during Late Paleocene to Early Eocene time, which coincides with the initial stage of crustal thinning caused by crustal extensional events in the Eastern Pontides and rules out the possibility of an extensional regime before ~ 50 Ma in the region during the Late Mesozoic to Early Cenozoic.

Karsli, Orhan; Dokuz, Abdurrahman; Uysal, Ibrahim; Aydin, Faruk; Chen, Bin; Kandemir, Raif; Wijbrans, Jan

We present elemental and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic data for the magmatic suite (~79 Ma) of the Harşit pluton, from the Eastern Pontides (NE Turkey), with the aim of determining its magma source and geodynamic evolution. The pluton comprises granite, granodiorite, tonalite and minor diorite (SiO2 = 59.43-76.95 wt%), with only minor gabbroic diorite mafic microgranular enclaves in composition (SiO2 = 54.95-56.32 wt%), and exhibits low Mg# (<46). All samples show a high-K calc-alkaline differentiation trend and I-type features. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns are fractionated [(La/Yb)n = 2.40-12.44] and display weak Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.30-0.76). The rocks are characterized by enrichment of LILE and depletion of HFSE. The Harşit host rocks have weak concave-upward REE patterns, suggesting that amphibole and garnet played a significant role in their generation during magma segregation. The host rocks and their enclaves are isotopically indistinguishable. Sr-Nd isotopic data for all of the samples display ISr = 0.70676-0.70708, εNd(79 Ma) = -4.4 to -3.3, with TDM = 1.09-1.36 Ga. The lead isotopic ratios are (206Pb/204Pb) = 18.79-18.87, (207Pb/204Pb) = 15.59-15.61 and (208Pb/204Pb) = 38.71-38.83. These geochemical data rule out pure crustal-derived magma genesis in a post-collision extensional stage and suggest mixed-origin magma generation in a subduction setting. The melting that generated these high-K granitoidic rocks may have resulted from the upper Cretaceous subduction of the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan oceanic slab beneath the Eurasian block in the region. The back-arc extensional events would have caused melting of the enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle and formed mafic magma. The underplating of the lower crust by mafic magmas would have played a significant role in the generation of high-K magma. Thus, a thermal anomaly induced by underplated basic magma into a hot crust would have caused partial melting in the lower part of the crust. In this scenario, the lithospheric mantle-derived basaltic melt first mixed with granitic magma of crustal origin at depth. Then, the melts, which subsequently underwent a fractional crystallization and crustal assimilation processes, could ascend to shallower crustal levels to generate a variety of rock types ranging from diorite to granite. Sr-Nd isotope modeling shows that the generation of these magmas involved ~65-75% of the lower crustal-derived melt and ~25-35% of subcontinental lithospheric mantle. Further, geochemical data and the Ar-Ar plateau age on hornblende, combined with regional studies, imply that the Harşit pluton formed in a subduction setting and that the back-arc extensional period started by least ~79 Ma in the Eastern Pontides.