Geochemical and radiometric data for mafic rocks from the Guleman Ophiolite (SE, Turkey): New insights on the geodynamic evolution of the southern Neo-Tethyan ocean

Abstract

The Guleman Ophiolite is located in the southeast of Turkey and mainly consists of harzburgites and dunites hosting economically viable chromitite bodies, and lesser amounts of cumulate and isotropic gabbro, diabase dykes, pyroxenite and locally plagiogranite. This study reports the combined whole-rock geochemical and radiogenic isotope (Sr and Nd) data for gabbro and diabase dykes, and in-situ zircon U-Pb geochronological data for plagiogranite and gabbro from the Guleman Ophiolite. Two different geochemical groups were determined based on immobile minor and trace elements, and radiogenic isotope characteristics of gabbro and diabase dykes investigated here. The first group is represented by boninites and displays highly depleted elemental patterns compared to NMORB, and spoon-shaped rare earth element profiles. Contrarily, the second group resembles back-arc basin basalts and is characterized by NMORB-like rare earth element patterns associated with negative Nb anomalies. The boninitic samples are characterized by less radiogenic 143Nd/144Nd(i) (0.51229 to 0.51267; ƐNd = −4.8 to +2.7) and more radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr(i) (0.70549 to 0.70758) isotope compositions compared to the back-arc basin basalt-like samples (143Nd/144Nd(i) = 0.51289 to 0.51296; ƐNd = +7.0 to +8.4; 87Sr/86Sr(i) = 0.70496 to 0.70629), indicating derivation from distinct and/or heterogeneous mantle source regions within a supra-subduction zone. The LA–ICP–MS zircon U-Pb analyses yielded concordant late Cretaceous ages for gabbro (82 ± 2.9 Ma) and plagiogranite (79.9 ± 0.8 Ma) samples. The overall geochemical, isotopic and geochronological data presented here suggest that the Guleman Ophiolite consists of forearc and initial back-arc spreading sections of oceanic crust, which may have been formed in an intra-oceanic subduction zone within the Berit Ocean (northern branch of the southern Neo-Tethyan ocean). Moreover, the generation of continental arc magmatism (i.e. Baskil and Esence Granitoids) was well-documented on the active margin of the Malatya-Keban Metamorphics to the north. Therefore the closure of this oceanic basin should have resulted in multiple coeval northward subduction events during the late Cretaceous.