Late Pliocene lamproites from Bucak, Isparta (southwestern Turkey): Implications for mantle ‘wedge’ evolution during Africa-Anatolian plate convergence

Abstract

Magmatism in the Kirka–Afyon–Isparta (KAI) region, southwestern Turkey, shows a temporal progression from calc-alkaline to ultrapotassic affinity. Magmatic activity is associated with the geodynamic evolution of the ‘Isparta Angle’ and is typical of a collision-affected convergent plate margin, most magmas being enriched in potassium and other large-ion lithophile elements (LILE) and depleted in high-field strength elements (HFSE) such as Ti, Zr, Nb, Ta, and Hf. However, Late Pliocene ultrapotassic lamproites in the south of ‘Isparta Angle’ show HFSE-rich incompatible element distributions, similar to those of ‘non-orogenic’ intraplate leucite basalts (ILB) and oceanic island basalts (OIB). Their association with HFSE-depleted ‘orogenic’ magmas suggests that ultrapotassic character reflects primarily crustal contamination of their mantle sources, rather than magma-wallrock reaction effects. Their relatively high content of Fe and Ti (for equivalent Mg content), and SiO 2-undersaturated character suggest that they segregated at relatively high pressures (>ca. 2.0 GPa) from fertile sources. In contrast, the older SiO 2-saturated, Afyon (orogenic) magmas which, for equivalent Mg content, show lower contents of Fe and Ti, are better explained as partial melts segregating at ca. 1.0–1.5 GPa from refractory (basalt-depleted) sources, similar to those of basalt-borne xenoliths tapping the lithospheric mantle. The notion of variably fertile contaminated mantle sources is compelling, but needs to be constrained in terms of the dynamic interaction between the lithosphere and asthenosphere and their respective contamination histories. Given the unlikelihood of in situ partial melting of the continental lithosphere mantle, we propose that both orogenic and non-orogenic magmas are generated at different pressures from sources within the convecting asthenosphere, contaminated by both lithospheric mantle and crustal components. This model rests on two testable conjectures: firstly, the interpretation that the continental lithospheric mantle is residual from partial melting at an earlier stage of its history and, secondly, that such material is incorporated into the asthenospheric flow field during and following subduction. The first of these is supported by the ambient compositions of continental basalt-borne xenoliths, while the second is contingent on the prediction that lithospheric mantle may be rheologically transformed during subduction-related hydration prior to its incorporation. The proximity of the Bucak lamproites to the Menderes Massif, a suspected Archean cratonic fragment, highlights the resemblance of these unusual rocks to intra-plate leucite-bearing lamproites elsewhere, whose genesis has been linked to mantle ‘wedge convection’ triggered beneath cratonic and circumcratonic lithosphere domain boundaries.