Petro-geochemical features of the Bajocian island-arc volcanism in the Lesser Caucasus (Azerbaijan)

Abstract


 
 
 This article discusses the petro-geochemical features of the Bajocian volcanism in the Azerbaijan Lesser Caucasus. Jurassic volcanism, manifested with varying intensity in the Lok-Karabakh zone, took place in various geodynamic settings, depending on the alternation of extension and compression processes in the island arc. Under these conditions, in the Lesser Caucasus during Middle Jurassic Epoch, two volcanic associations were formed: the Bajocian basalt-rhyolite and the basalt-andesite-dacite-rhyolite of the Bathonian age. It was found that the volcanic rocks of the Lower Bajocian complex belong to the tholeiitic series, and the Upper Bajocian rocks belong to the calc-alkaline series. In the rocks of the association, light REE slightly prevail over heavy ones and form almost flat spectra, the normalized plots are characterized by the chondritic nature of the distribution of rare earth elements, and the lines are parallel to the spectrum of the distribution of rare earth elements in MORB. In such rocks particularly the europium ratio (Eu / Eu * = 0.81–1.21) approaches 1 and low La / Yb ratios are observed. In some samples of more basic rocks, the content of heavy REE increases. Such a distribution of REE in the studied volcanic rocks is common for basic rocks of the tholeiitic series in typical island arcs. In the analyzed single rhyolite sample, a negative Eu anomaly is observed (Eu / Eu * = 0.56). The volcanic rocks on the primitive mantle normalized multi-element plots are characterized by depletion in Ta, Nb and enrichment in LILE (Rb, Ba, Pb, U, Th), which is characteristic of island arc-related volcanic rocks of supra-subduction zones (SSZ). The rocks are also depleted in titanium, potassium, and phosphorus. It was concluded that, in terms of geochemical features, the Middle Jurassic igneous rocks were formed at the ensimatic island arc, which was the initial stage of the development of the island arc tectonic setting, replaced in the Upper Jurassic by ensialic subduction.