Stratigraphy and geochemistry of pillow basalts within the ophiolitic mélange of the Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan suture zone: implications for the geotectonic character of the northern branch of Neotethys

Abstract

The Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone of Turkey is a broad zone of ophiolitic melange containing numerous fragmented blocks ranging in age from Triassic to Cretaceous. Stratigraphic sequences for various melange units are compared, together with the geochemistry of associated basaltic pillow lavas of Cretaceous age. A review of geochemical data for the pillow lavas demonstrate: (a) a dominant group of alkalic basalts with enriched incompatible elements, variable Zr/Y and Zr/Nb ratios, and (b) a range of tholeiitic basalts with slightly depleted to mildly enriched (normalized) rare earth patterns, (La/Yb)N 0.4-3.0, and generally low Zr/Y ratios. The alkalic basalts can be chemically matched to Pacific Ocean seamounts, although the close association of red radiolarites and cherts suggests that many basalts represent the margins of such structures, rather than the main seamount edifice. Nd-Sr isotope data are typical for ocean island basalts and represent an admixture of a dominant EM-1 source and a depleted MORB-like source. Enhanced δ18O compositions are a consequence of submarine alteration and not crustal contamination. Tholeiitic compositions have affinities with both N- and E-type MORB, although most are probably representative of tholeiitic ocean islands. Overall the basalts are mainly representative of structures built on the ocean floor, rather than the oceanic crust itself, being scraped off the subducting crust and preserved in the melange of the accretionary wedge.