Petrography, Geochemistry and Tectonic Setting of Volcanic Rocks in Qom-Tehran Trend

Abstract

Along 80 Km length of Tehran-Qom highway, a complex of post Eocen volcanic rocks include basalt, trachyte-basalt, andesite-basalt, dacite, rhyolite and pyrocalstic rocks (tuff and ignimbrite) with sedimentary rocks are exposed. The region turned to horst and graben system by NW-SE fault systems. Grabens are covered by Pliocene-Quaternary sediments and various volcanic rocks outcrop in horsts. Volcanic rocks are mostly calc-alkaline, alkaline and rarely tholeiitic. Geochemical features of these rocks are similar to those of subduction tectonic setting and in spider diagrams, the HFSE (Nb, Ti, Y, P) show negative and the LILE (K, Rb, Cs, Sr, Ba, Th, Pb) show positive anomaly. However, Ta and Nb do not present obvious negative anomaly. Comparing the spider diagrams of the studied rocks with N-MORB shows that their magmas originated from mantle melt similar to N-MORB mantle, but from higher depth than MORB in which garnet was stable (Y negative anomaly) and plagioclase were absent (Eu positive anomaly). Spider diagrams normalized with primary mantle also confirm such a mantle source (Eu positive anomaly) that was affected by mantle driven fluids (positive anomaly of Cs, Th, K, La, Pb). Chemical composition variations of the Eocene volcanic rocks from Qom to Tehran shows that there is no geochemical polarity in this volcanic trend similar to those of subduction zones. The disagreement in geochemical results could probably be due to the slab detachment of ocean plate in the upper Cretaceous that caused a delay in subduction and continued with lower angel subduction to form a magmatic isotropy in the Central Iran. Furthermore, the presence of local extension forces with transitional effects and block rotary movements that are formed as a function of strike-slip faults above the oblique subduction zone must be considered