Relative contributions of crust and mantle to generation of Campanian high-K calc-alkaline I-type granitoids in a subduction setting, with special reference to the Harşit Pluton, Eastern Turkey

Abstract

We present elemental and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic data for the magmatic suite (~79 Ma) of the Harşit pluton, from the Eastern Pontides (NE Turkey), with the aim of determining its magma source and geodynamic evolution. The pluton comprises granite, granodiorite, tonalite and minor diorite (SiO2 = 59.43–76.95 wt%), with only minor gabbroic diorite mafic microgranular enclaves in composition (SiO2 = 54.95–56.32 wt%), and exhibits low Mg# (<46). All samples show a high-K calc-alkaline differentiation trend and I-type features. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns are fractionated [(La/Yb) n = 2.40–12.44] and display weak Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.30–0.76). The rocks are characterized by enrichment of LILE and depletion of HFSE. The Harşit host rocks have weak concave-upward REE patterns, suggesting that amphibole and garnet played a significant role in their generation during magma segregation. The host rocks and their enclaves are isotopically indistinguishable. Sr–Nd isotopic data for all of the samples display I Sr = 0.70676–0.70708, ε Nd(79 Ma) = −4.4 to −3.3, with T DM = 1.09–1.36 Ga. The lead isotopic ratios are (206Pb/204Pb) = 18.79–18.87, (207Pb/204Pb) = 15.59–15.61 and (208Pb/204Pb) = 38.71–38.83. These geochemical data rule out pure crustal-derived magma genesis in a post-collision extensional stage and suggest mixed-origin magma generation in a subduction setting. The melting that generated these high-K granitoidic rocks may have resulted from the upper Cretaceous subduction of the Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan oceanic slab beneath the Eurasian block in the region. The back-arc extensional events would have caused melting of the enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle and formed mafic magma. The underplating of the lower crust by mafic magmas would have played a significant role in the generation of high-K magma. Thus, a thermal anomaly induced by underplated basic magma into a hot crust would have caused partial melting in the lower part of the crust. In this scenario, the lithospheric mantle-derived basaltic melt first mixed with granitic magma of crustal origin at depth. Then, the melts, which subsequently underwent a fractional crystallization and crustal assimilation processes, could ascend to shallower crustal levels to generate a variety of rock types ranging from diorite to granite. Sr–Nd isotope modeling shows that the generation of these magmas involved ~65–75% of the lower crustal-derived melt and ~25–35% of subcontinental lithospheric mantle. Further, geochemical data and the Ar–Ar plateau age on hornblende, combined with regional studies, imply that the Harşit pluton formed in a subduction setting and that the back-arc extensional period started by least ~79 Ma in the Eastern Pontides.