A post-collision slab-breakoff model for the orgin of the Middle Eocene magmatic rocks of the Armutlu-Almacik belt, NW Turkey and its regional implications

Abstract

Middle Eocene magmatic rocks (MEMR) (49.3 +/- 2 to 38.1 +/- 1.9 Ma) formed an east-west trending belt after continental collision and rest unconformably on pre-Middle Eocene units as a common cover. The origin and tectonic setting of MEMR are controversial as both arc and post-collisional settings are proposed. We present new geological and petrological data from the western part of the belt, between the Armutlu Peninsula and the Almacik Mountains. The MEMR are represented by basic to intermediate volcanic rocks, dykes and coeval granites. The lavas exhibit a continuous trend from basalt to dacite. The MEMR as a whole display low- to medium-K subalkaline (to rarely mildly alkaline) affinities and a calc-alkaline trend. On N-type Mid Ocean Ridge Basalt-normalized spidergrams these rocks display relative enrichment in large ion lithophile elements, slight enrichment in light rare earth elements, but depletion in Ta and Nb. Geochemical data and Sr, Nd, Pb and delta O-18 isotope compositions, coupled with epsilon Nd-(T) values, reveal that the MEMRmagma was of hybrid type, with both depleted sub-continental lithospheric mantle and crustal components. We conclude that the MEMR was produced in a post-collisional setting, and we favour a slab-breakoff mechanism to explain this as it is consistent with the known Middle Eocene tectonic evolution of northwestern Turkey.