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Plagioclase crystals characterized by compositional zoning are typical of the Zigana Granitoid (ZG), NE Turkey. The zoned crystals, which show textural equilibrium with the assemblage quartz + plagioclase + K-feldspar + hornblende + biotite + pyroxene + magnetite + ilmenite, exhibit oscillatory zoning. The zoned plagioclase crystals, ranging in size from 3 to 6 mm, are oval and larger than normal lath-shaped crystals. The zoned crystals are divided petrographically into two main types: (i) crystals zones only at their rims, with spongy cores; and (ii) completely zoned ones. Composition of the zoned crystals ranges from An23 (oligoclase) to An70 (labradorite). Plagioclase crystals with oscillatory zoning are governed by strong substitution mechanisms of Ca2+ ⇔ Na+, Al3+ ⇔ Si4+ and weak substitution of Fe3+ for Si++. The Fe2O3(t) (wt %) contents of the subject plagioclases increase with increasing An content. The petrographic and compositional changes from rim to rim (oscillatory zoning), and positive correlation between Fe2O3(t) (wt %) and An (mol %) contents of the zoned plagioclases, suggest recurrent mafic magma injection into a felsic magma chamber, and thus magma interaction as a dominant magmatic process during the evolution of the Zigana Granitoid (ZG). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Late Cretaceous volcanism of the ESZ erupted in two successive stages. • The successive stages are characterized by mafic and felsic volcanic rocks. • Mafic rocks of both stages were derived from underplated basaltic melts. • Composition of the felsic rocks was controlled by MASH and crustal processes. • Volcanism took place during northward subduction of the northern Neotethys Ocean. The Late Cretaceous Artvin volcanic rocks (LCAVs) from the eastern Sakarya zone (ESZ) of NE Turkey are composed of mafic/basaltic (S1-Çatak and S2-Çağlayan) and felsic/acidic (S1-Kızılkaya and S2-Tirebolu) rock types that occurred in two successive stages: (i) first stage (S1: Turonian–Early Santonian) and (ii) second stage (S2: Late Santonian–Campanian). Clinopyroxene thermobarometric results point that the S2-Çağlayan basaltic rocks have crystallised at higher temperatures and under deeper crustal conditions than those of the S1-Çatak basaltic rocks. The LCAVs show a wide compositional spectrum, ranging from tholeiite to calc-alkaline/shoshonite and are typically represented by a geochemical composition resembling subduction-related arc rocks although the 87Sr/86Sr (i) (0.7044–0.7071) and ɛNd (i) values (−0.63 to + 3.47) as well as 206Pb/204Pb (i) (18.07–18.56), 207Pb/204Pb (i) (15.57–15.62) and 208Pb/204Pb (i) (37.12–38.55) ratios show very limited variation. The parent magmas of the S1-Çatak and S2-Çağlayan mafic volcanic rocks were derived from underplated basaltic melts that originated by partial melting of metasomatised spinel lherzolite and spinel-garnet lherzolite, respectively. It is proposed that the compositions of the S1-Kızılkaya (mainly dacitic) and S2-Tirebolu (rhyolitic to trachytic) felsic rocks were particularly controlled by metasomatised mantle–crust interaction and MASH zone + shallow crustal fractionation processes. Our data, together with data from previous studies, suggest that the S1- and S2-mafic and felsic rocks of the LCAVs (~95–75 Ma) are the products of two-stage volcanic event that took place during the northward subduction of the northern Neotethys Ocean (NNO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Eastern Pontides in NE Turkey is one of the major orogenic belts in Anatolia. In this paper, we report our new 40Ar/39Ar dating, mineral chemistry, major and trace elements and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic analyses of the lamprophyre intrusions in this region. The lamprophyres are widely scattered and intrude Late Carboniferous granitoid rocks. The lamprophyres exhibit fine-grained textures and are mineralogically uniform. Hornblende 40Ar/39Ar dating yielded a plateau age of 216.01±10.64Ma. Based on their geochemistry, mineral compositions and paragenesis, the lamprophyres are classified as calc-alkaline lamprophyres in general and spessartites in particular, which are rich in large ion lithophile elements (e.g., Rb, Ba, K) but depleted in Nb and Ti. Our samples exhibit moderate fractionation in LREE patterns approximately 100 times that of chondrite but HREE abundances less than 10 times that of chondrite. These calc-alkaline lamprophyres display a range of ISr (216Ma) values from 0.70619 to 0.71291 and εNd (216Ma) values from −1.4 to 4.1, with T DM =1.11 to 2.20Ga. Their Pb isotopic ratios indicate an enriched mantle source. The enrichment process is related to metasomatism of a subcontinental lithospheric mantle source, which is caused by a large quantity of H2O-rich fluids, rather than sediments released from oceanic crust at depth during the closure of the Paleotethys Ocean in Triassic times. All of the geochemical data and the trace element modeling suggest that the primary magma of the calc-alkaline to high-K calc-alkaline spessartites was generated at depth by a low degree of partial melting (~1–10%) of a previously enriched lithospheric mantle wedge consisting of phlogopite-bearing spinel peridotite. The ascendance of a hot asthenosphere triggered by extensional events caused partial melting of mantle material. The rising melts were accompanied by fractional crystallization and crustal contamination en route to the surface. All of the geochemical features combined with regional data suggest that the Eastern Pontides calc-alkaline lamprophyres originated in an extensional environment along an active continental margin throughout the Late Triassic. Such an extensional event, causing upwelling of hot asthenosphere, led to the opening of the northern branch of the Neotethys as a back-arc basin farther south of the Eastern Pontides. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 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 =62.89–65.07wt.%) and high-K calc-alkaline granodiorite–granite associations (SiO2 =69.06–70.43wt.%). The former displays peraluminous to metaluminous signatures, whereas the latter shows peraluminous geochemical character. The granite–granodiorite porphyries have high K2O (3.32–3.84wt.%), and low Na2O (3.48–4.61wt.%) and MgO (0.91–1.04wt.%) 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±0.34Ma. 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 (250–1141ppm), high Sr/Y ratios (16–147), low Y (6.8–14.8ppm) 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 ISr ranging from 0.70554 to 0.70986, εNd (51Ma) 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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 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 I Sr (0.70474–0.70640) and low ε Nd (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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]