A window to the operation of microplate tectonics in the Tethys Ocean: the geochemistry of the Samothrace granite, Aegean Sea

Autor: V. Tsikouras, Georgia Pe-Piper, K. St. Seymour, K. Hatzipanayiotou, K. Kotopouli
Rok vydání: 1996
Předmět:
Zdroj: Mineralogy and Petrology. 56:251-272
ISSN: 1438-1168
0930-0708
DOI: 10.1007/bf01162606
Popis: The island of Samothrace, northeastern Aegean Sea, consists of five main geological units: (i) A basement unit consisting of low grade metamorphic rocks (metapelites, marbles, metavolcanic rocks, and a metaconglomerate); (ii) an ‘ophiolitic complex’ with K-Ar hornblende date of 154 ± 7 and 155 ± 7 Ma; (iii) A granite intrusion with biotite K-Ar dates of 14.5 ± 0.3 and 14.5 ± 0.5 Ma, and a contact metamorphic event dated at 40.9 + 2.2 Ma; (iv) a unit of Cenozoic volcanic rocks: orogenic volcanism apparently occurred in two cycles with Upper Eocene tholeiitic to calc-alkaline volcanic rocks and post-Eocene high-K andesites to trachytes. (v) Quaternary clastic sedimentary rocks which occur around the peripheral parts of the island. The granitic intrusion is predominantly a hornblende-biotite granite, granodiorite or quartz monzonite, with porphyritic variants and mafic enclaves. The pluton is cut by granophyre, aplite and rare granodioritic veins. All lithological units of the Samothrace intrusion show smooth and continuous major element trends and similar chondrite- and Ocean Ridge Granite-normalized incompatible element profiles. ORG-normalized incompatible element contents of Hf, Zr, Sm are explained with fractionation close to the normalizing values Y and Yb contents combined with high K/Yb ratios; Rb and Th are significantly enriched relative to Nb and Ta. In Y-Nb and Rb-SiO2 space most samples of the Samothrace granite, plot in the volcanic arc and the syn-collisional granite fields. In Y + Nb-Rb space they are equally distributed within and transgress these two domains. The geochemical and regional data suggest a subduction or collision environment but biotite mineral data do not support a collisional setting for magma genesis. The Samothrace granite was probaby associated with a post-collisional domain after the closure of the Axios section of the Tethys Ocean.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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