Dichotomy of The Messada Pluton, Serbo-Macedonian Massif, Greece: From Rifting to Subduction

Abstract

The Messada pluton is a mafic intrusion that is located about 12 km SW of Serres town, (Macedonia Greece) that intrudes the two mica, biotite and the augen gneisses of the Vertiskos formation (Serbo-Macedonian massif). The aim of this study is to investigate, define and evaluate the geochemical characteristics of the pluton in order to determine the geotectonic environment in which the parental magma has been formed. The Mesada pluton is a mid to coarse grained intrusion presenting petrographic variety from diorite and quartz diorite to tonalite and granodiorite. The variety in petrography reflects its chemical inhomogeneity in major and trace elements. It is suggested that parts of pluton have been formed by distinctly different types of magmas originated in diverse geotectonic settings. Those parts of quartz diorite and tonalite composition, present similar geochemical characteristics, LILE/HFSE ratios and negative Nb, but no Ti anomalies in their primitive mantle normalized trace elements spider grams. They exhibit higher HFS values than those of granodioritic composition. Moreover, their ORG normalized spider grams not only suggest that they have been evolved by a common parental magma, but also present the typical characteristics of a “crust dominated” within plate pluton that may have been formed in an early stage during rifting, prior to a subsequent subduction episode. This interpretation may be in accordance with the suggestion for the Gondwanian origin of the more silicic Triassic rift related meta-granites (e.g. Arnea plutonic complex) of the Serbo-Macedonian massif. In contrary; the parts of Mesada pluton of granodioritic composition, exhibit a calc-alkaline to high K calc-alkaline magmatic suite and present higher LILE/HFSE and LREE/HREE ratios, related to a higher crustal component contribution for the magma genesis. Furthermore, their primitive mantle normalized spider grams’ present negative anomalies at Nb and Ti. These characteristics indicate that those granodioritic parts have been formed by the crystallization of a calk-alkaline magma, produced by the partial melting of lower crust, lithospheric mantle and asthenospheric mantle components, in a volcanic arc geo-tectonic setting. Their geochemical characteristics have close similarities to those of the collision related granitoids that have intruded the Serbo- Macedonian during Tertiary.