Volcanic facies and mineral chemistry of Tertiary volcanics in the northern part of the Eastern Pontides, northeast Turkey: implications for pre-eruptive crystallization conditions and magma chamber processes

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Tertiary volcanics in the northern zone of the Eastern Pontides are characterized by subaerial and shallow-subaqueous facieses, and are divided into three volcanic suites: Eocene aged (1) basalt-trachybasalt-basaltic trachyandesite (BTB) and (2) trachyte-trachyandesite (TT), and Miocene aged (3) basanite-tephrite (BT) suites. Clinopyroxene is a common phase in all three volcanic suites, and has different compositions with Mg# varying from 0.57 to 0.91 in BTB suite and 0.57–0.84 in TT suite to 0.65–0.90 in BT suite. Feldspars in all suites generally exhibit wide range of compositions from sanidine to albite or anorthite and have weak normal and reverse compositional zoning. Olivines in BTB and BT suites have Fo60–92. Hornblendes in BTB, TT and BT suites are commonly magnesio-hastingsite and rare pargasite in composition (Mg#: 0.67–0.90). Brown mica is mainly phlogopite with Mg# ranging from 0.56 to 0.92 in the BTB suite, 0.59–0.84 in the TT suite, and 0.75–0.93 in the BT suite. Analcime is present only in the BT suite rocks. Fe–Ti oxides in all suites are mainly composed of magnetite and titanomagnetite. Textural petrographic and mineral chemical data suggest that magmas had undergone hydrous and anhydrous crystallizations in deep-, mid-, and shallow-crustal magma chambers. Clinopyroxene thermobarometric calculations show that Eocene magma chambers were characterized by temperature ranging from 1,100 to 1,244 °C and pressure ranging from 1.84 to 5.39 kbar. Similarly, the Miocene magma chambers were characterized by temperature ranging from 1,119 to 1,146 °C and pressure ranging from 4.23 to 4.93 kbar. Hornblende thermobarometry, oxygen fugacity, and hygrometer reveal that the crystallization temperature of Eocene volcanics range from 956 to 959 °C at pressure ranging from 6.49 to 6.52 kbar. Eocene volcanics were characterized by water content ranging from 7.83 to 8.57 wt.% and oxygen fugacity of 10−9.36 to 10−9.46 (ΔNNO+2). Miocene volcanics had crystallization temperature ranging from 970 to 978 °C at pressure ranging from 8.70 to 9.00 kbar with water content ranging from 8.04 to 8.64 wt.% and oxygen fugacity ranging from 10−8.75 to 10−8.87 (ΔNNO+2). Brown mica thermobarometric data show that Eocene volcanics were characterized by relatively high oxygen fugacity varying from 10-10.32 to 10-12.37 (HM) at temperature ranging from 858 to 953 °C and pressure ranging from 1.08 to 1.41 kbar. Miocene volcanics were crystallized at highly oxidized conditions, which are characterized by high oxygen fugacity of 10−12.0 (HM) at temperature of 875 °C and pressure of 2.09 kbar. The wide range of obtained temperatures for clinopyroxenes of the suites denotes that the equilibration of clinopyroxene crystals initiates from depth until close to the surface before magma eruption. The compositional variations, resorbed core and reverse zoning patterns in clinopyroxene phenocrysts, as well as variable pressures of crystallization, further indicate that the magmas that formed the suites were polybaric in origins and were composite products of more than one petrogenetic stage. The observed range of phenocryst assemblage and different compositional trends possibly originated from fractionation of magmas with different initial water contents under variable pressures of crystallization. The repeated occurrence of magmas from different suites during a single period of activity suggests that the magmatic system consists of several conduit systems and that magma reservoirs are dispersed at different levels of crustal magma chambers.