JOURNAL OF ASIAN EARTH SCIENCES, cilt.176, ss.281-299, 2019 (SCI-Expanded)
The Mersin ophiolite of the Central Taurides in southern Turkey represents an incomplete section of ocean lithosphere consisting from bottom to top of chromitite-bearing mantle peridotites, cumulate dunites, clinopyroxenites, and gabbros with rare pillow lavas covered by bathypelagic sedimentary rocks. The tectonized peridotites are harzburgites with minor dunites. They are strongly melt-depleted peridotites, comprising chromian spinel (Cr-spinel) with medium to high Cr-numbers (Cr#) [100 x Cr/(Cr + Al) = 48-82] and low Al2O3 concentrations (0.05-2.2 wt%). They display concave chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns, which we interpret as evidence for their refertilization by boninitic melts in a mantle wedge. Geochemical evidence suggests that the parental magmas of the high-Cr podiform chromitites (Cr#(sp) = 71-83) were of boninitic composition. The chromitites host a platinum-group mineral (PGM) assemblage of laurite [Ru#-64.0-90.7] and Os-Ir alloys, indicating crystallization within a range of low fS(2) conditions (logfS(2) similar to -2 to -1.3) and a T-max of similar to 1200 degrees C.