Abstract
A major arc-related magmatic episode is recorded in the Ediacaran-Early Cambrian (Cadomian) crust of Iran and Anatolia due to the southward subduction of Prototethyan oceanic lithosphere beneath N Gondwana. This magmatism was generated at a convergent margin, fragments of which can be traced for thousands of kilometres, from west Avalonia to the Lhasa terrane. Cadomian crustal tracts in Iran and Tauride-Anatolia are represented by abundant arc-like plutonic and volcanic rocks and a series of retro-arc, rifted basins dominated by thick sequences of terrigenous rocks as well as both calc-alkaline and alkaline magmatic rocks. This paper presents new zircon U-Pb as well as geochemical-isotopic data from plutonic (granite to gabbro) and volcanic (basalt to rhyolite) magmatic rocks of a Cadomian retro-arc rifted basin from Zarand in SE Iran. Geochemical data indicate two different geochemical signatures; high K calc-alkaline-shoshonitic, characterized by strong depletions in Nb, Ta, P, Ti, and alkaline rocks (and A1-type intrusions), with strong OIB-like trace element patterns. Cadomian OIB-like rocks- as well as A1-type intrusions- are rare in the basements of Iran and Anatolia and are only documented as minor gabbroic intrusions and/or (meta-) volcanic rocks from Saghand (central Iran), NE Iran and from exotic blocks from Ediacaran salt domes. Moreover, A2-type granites are also present in the Cadomian crust of Iran. Zarand volcanic rocks are interlayered with Rizu-Dezu terrigenous sedimentary rocks, whereas plutonic rocks intruded these metasediments. New zircon U-Pb ages show that high K calc-alkaline-shoshonitic rocks formed ~ 537-536 Ma, whereas A1-type granites crystallized at ~535 Ma. Most zircons from A1-type granites show positive εHf(t) values from +1.1 to +5.1, mostly higher than high K calc-alkaline-shoshonitic rocks with εHf (t) between −6.6 and +8.1. Bulk rock Nd-Sr isotopic data (e.g., ɛNd(t)= +0.3 to +4.0) for OIB-like rocks confirm that these rocks originated from an enriched OIB-like mantle source, whereas high K calc-alkaline-shoshonitic rocks (with εNd(t) = −7.7 to −6.2) show strong interaction with, and/or re-melting of a continental crust. Our results are consistent with an interpretation that the Zarand volcanic-plutonic rocks as well as associated thick sequences of sedimentary strata rocks formed in a retro-arc rifted basin behind the Cadomian magmatic arc. This basin seems to have developed during the Ediacaran at ~570-560 Ma with deposition of Ediacaran Morad to Lower Cambrian Rizu-Dezo sedimentary rocks. The retro-arc extensional basin seems to have become magmatically active at 540-535 Ma, as shown by the occurrence of both high K calc-alkaline- shoshonitic and OIB-like magmatic rocks. This basin was flanked by a cratonic hinterland towards Gondwana and a magmatic arc to the N. The cratonic hinterland fed detritus with detrital zircons older than 0.6 Ga into the basin, whereas the magmatic arc shed detritus with 500-600 Ma old zircons. Our compiled and new data from Ediacaran-Early Paleozoic magmatic rocks also show that Cadomian high magmatic fluxes occurred differently in parts of Iran-Anatolia, with overlaps in some areas.
Published Version
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