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Small-volume melts of lithospheric mantle during continental collision: late Cenozoic lavas of Mahabad, NW Iran

Kheirkhah, M.; Neill, I.; Allen, M.B.; Ajdari, K.

Small-volume melts of lithospheric mantle during continental collision: late Cenozoic lavas of Mahabad, NW Iran Thumbnail


Authors

M. Kheirkhah

I. Neill

K. Ajdari



Abstract

Basanites and alkali basalts from Mahabad in the West Azerbaijan province of Iran are part of a widespread series of Late Miocene–Quaternary mantle-derived magmas erupted within the Turkish–Iranian orogenic plateau, itself part of the active Arabia–Eurasia collision zone. New elemental and Sr–Nd isotopic results are combined with geophysical and geological constraints to suggest that these lavas formed predominantly by small degrees of partial melting of the thick (≫100 km) Eurasian lithospheric mantle within the garnet facies. Samples are highly enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and the light rare earth elements (LREE), up to 600 times chondritic values. They mostly possess negative primitive mantle-normalised Rb, K, Nb–Ta, Zr–Hf and Ti anomalies, with an overall signature that indicates a mantle source metasomatised by fluids or melts derived from crust during continental collision or the Tethyan oceanic subduction that preceded it. Sr–Nd isotopic values are similar to other Quaternary centres in NW Iran; 87Sr/86Sr is slightly depleted with respect to Bulk Silicate Earth, at ∼0.7045, and 143Nd/144Nd is slightly enriched, at ∼0.5127. Crustal contamination does not appear to be an important process in the chemistry of these samples. Possible triggers for melting may include: breakdown of hydrous phases during lithospheric thickening; hydration of the mantle lithosphere by underthrusting of the Arabian passive margin; small-scale sub-lithospheric convection due to a significant thickness gradient in the Zagros lithosphere. Such processes may account for small-volume syn-collisional mantle-derived magmatism elsewhere in regions of thick lithosphere where recent slab break-off or lithospheric delamination cannot be proven.

Citation

Kheirkhah, M., Neill, I., Allen, M., & Ajdari, K. (2013). Small-volume melts of lithospheric mantle during continental collision: late Cenozoic lavas of Mahabad, NW Iran. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 74, 37-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2013.06.002

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Sep 1, 2013
Deposit Date Jan 31, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Print ISSN 1367-9120
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 74
Pages 37-49
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2013.06.002
Keywords Lithosphere, Iran, Basalt, Geochemistry, Melting.

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Copyright Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 74, 2013, 10.1016/j.jseaes.2013.06.002.




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