Discovery of Latest Cretaceous OIB-type alkaline gabbros in the Eastern Pontides Orogenic Belt, NE Turkey: Evidence for tectonic emplacement of seamounts


EYÜBOĞLU Y., Dudas F. O., Chatterjee N., Liu Z., YILMAZ-DEGERLI S.

LITHOS, vol.310, pp.182-200, 2018 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 310
  • Publication Date: 2018
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.lithos.2018.04.013
  • Journal Name: LITHOS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.182-200
  • Keywords: Alkaline gabbro, Ocean island basalt, Accretionary complex, Black Sea, Paleotethys, BLACK-SEA BASIN, OCEAN PLATE STRATIGRAPHY, PB ISOTOPE GEOCHEMISTRY, BACK-ARC BASIN, VOLCANIC-ROCKS, FORE-ARC, GEODYNAMIC EVOLUTION, ACCRETIONARY COMPLEXES, ZIRCON CHRONOLOGY, PETROGENESIS
  • Karadeniz Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The Meso-Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the Eastern Pontides Orogenic Belt, a mountain chain extending parallel to the southeastern margin of the Black Sea, has been controversial for the last forty years. Here we present data for a newly discovered alkaline gabbro body and its surrounding basaltic rocks in the northern part of the Eastern Pontides Orogenic Belt. We also provide a comprehensive assessment of the Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic geodynamic evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean region. The gabbroic body is bounded by reverse faults along its northern and southern borders and is surrounded by vesicular, pillow-fragment breccias and pillow basalts. Mineral compositions suggest that crystallization of the gabbros began at about 1170 degrees C, and the lowest preserved crystallization T is near 1000 degrees C. Estimated pressure at the beginning of crystallization is 5.7-7.4 kb. The Ar-40/Ar-39 dating of kaersutite and plagioclase and U-Pb dating of titanite indicated that the Hayrat gabbro crystallized at similar to 67 Ma (Late Maastrichtian). Whole rock major-trace-rare earth element and Sr-Nd-Pb isotope data indicate that the gabbros and basalts have different origins. The gabbros are alkaline and exhibit the geochemical features of OIB, whereas the basalts are tholeiitic and reveal depletions of HFSE that are similar to those of arc rocks. The gabbros are strongly fractionated, and derive from an enriched, lithospheric mantle source, with partial melting occurring in a garnet-stable environment. The basalts are less fractionated, and probably derive from a shallower source in which spinet peridotite was the predominant lithology. Considering all new and old geological, geochemical, geochronological and geophysical data from the Black Sea Basin and the Eastern Pontides-Lesser Caucasus-Alborz Orogenic Belt, we suggest that the alkaline Hayrat gabbro formed in an oceanic intraplate setting, and was accreted to the forearc region of the Eastern Pontides Orogenic Belt during southward subduction of Paleotethyan lithosphere. It was later tectonically juxtaposed with subaqueously erupted, arc-related basalts. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.