Petrogenetic and tectonic controls on magma fertility and the formation of post-subduction porphyry and epithermal mineralization along the late Cenozoic Anatolian Metallogenic Trend, Turkey

Abstract

The late Cenozoic Anatolian Metallogenic Trend in Turkey is a manifestation of westerly Aegean subduction and easterly Arabian continental collision along the Western Tethyan Orogenic Belt. The 1500 × 200 km late Cenozoic Anatolian magmatism hosts many gold-rich porphyry and epithermal deposits and prospects (~ 27 Moz Au) that formed during the tearing of the Aegean slab and Arabian slab break-off events that initiated at 15 Ma in western Anatolia and 25 Ma in eastern Anatolia. Although the temporal and spatial correlations between slab segmentation, late Cenozoic magmatism, and associated gold-rich porphyry and epithermal mineralization has been intuitively proposed, the genetic relationships between asthenospheric upwelling, subcontinental lithospheric mantle instability, and magma fertility have not been well established. Herein, new geochemical and radiogenic Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope data from Miocene to Pliocene magmatic rocks that are genetically related to porphyry, epithermal, and skarn systems from western, central, and eastern Anatolia are presented and interpreted with previously published geochemical data from late Cenozoic intrusion-related mineral systems throughout Anatolia. The magma fertility of the late Cenozoic post-subduction igneous suites along the late Cenozoic Anatolian Metallogenic Trend is assessed and is best indicated by the SiO2 (61.8 ± 5.5 wt%) content, Sr/Y (> 20) and Ba/Ta ratios (> 428), and (eNd)i values (< 0). Fertile magmatism dominantly resulted from the melting of the metasomatized Anatolian SCLM and was accompanied by amphibole ± clinopyroxene and plagioclase fractionation in the absence of garnet residue as indicated by low (Dy/Yb)N and Eun/Eu* ratios. Magma fertility indicators evolved through time along the late Cenozoic Anatolian Metallogenic Trend. In western Anatolia, fertile magmatism peaked in the middle to late Miocene (15–9 Ma) and was preceded by less-fertile early Miocene magmatism (21–18 Ma) and followed by barren Pliocene to Quaternary, alkaline lavas. The geochemical signatures of mineralized igneous units in central and eastern Anatolia indicate that fertile magmas formed early as regional magmatism evolved towards less hydrous, less oxidized, shallower, and mantle-dominant signature. The reduction of magmatic fertility since the late Miocene throughout Anatolia was caused by the upwelling of hot, dry asthenosphere through the Aegean slab tear and Arabian slab break-off, SCLM instability, and subsequent removal in absence of an over-thickened crust. The spatial migration of slab ruptures and slab gap opening modified mantle fluxes, reduced the SCLM thickness and volume of fusible material, and caused the migration of melting source. Thus, the segmentation of the Southern Neotethyan oceanic slab triggered the metallogenic events along the Anatolian Trend but subsequently contributed to the cessation of production of fertile magma.