Complete Tertiary exhumation history of the Menderes massif, western Turkey: an alternative working hypothesis

The main exhumation of the Menderes massif, western Turkey, occurred along an originally N‐dipping Datça–Kale main breakaway fault that controlled depositions in the Kale and the Gökova basins during the Oligocene – Early Miocene interval. The isostatically controlled upward bending of the main breakaway fault brings the lower plate rocks to the surface. In the Early Miocene, E–W‐trending N‐ and S‐dipping graben‐bounding faults fragmented the exhumed, dome‐shaped massif. The development of half grabens by rolling master fault hinges has allowed further exhumation of the central Menderes massif. After the Pliocene, high‐angle normal faults cut all of the previous structures. This model suggests that the Menderes massif is a single large metamorphic core complex that has experienced a two‐stage exhumation process.     

Mineralogical and Chemical Characteristics of Clay Areas,Gümüşhane Region (NE Turkey), and Their Detection Using the Crósta Technique with Landsat 7 and 8 Images

Natural Resources Research - The clay areas in Gümü?hane (NE Turkey) were examined in mineralogical and geochemical terms, and by remote sensing methods. X-ray diffraction, scanning...     

Probing Magnetic Fields with Square Kilometre Array and its Precursors

Origin of magnetic fields, its structure and effects on dynamical processes in stars to galaxies are not well understood. Lack of a direct probe has remained a problem for its study. The first phase of Square Kilometre Array (SKA-I), will have almost an order of magnitude higher sensitivity than the best existing radio telescope at GHz frequencies. In this contribution, we discuss specific science cases that are of interest to the Indian community concerned with astrophysical turbulence and magnetic fields. The SKA-I will allow observations of a large number of background sources with detectable polarization and measure their Faraday depths (FDs) through the Milky Way, other galaxies and their circum-galactic mediums. This will probe line-of-sight magnetic fields in these objects well and provide field configurations. Detailed comparison of observational data (e.g., pitch angles in spirals) with models which consider various processes giving rise to field amplification and maintenance (e.g., various types of dynamo models) will then be possible. Such observations will also provide the coherence scale of the fields and its random component through RM structure function. Measuring the random component is important to characterize turbulence in the medium. Observations of FDs with redshift will provide important information on magnetic field evolution as a function of redshift. The background sources could also be used to probe magnetic fields and its coherent scale in galaxy clusters and in bridges formed between interacting galaxies. Other than FDs, sensitive observations of synchrotron emission from galaxies will provide complimentary information on their magnetic field strengths in the sky plane. The core shift measurements of AGNs can provide more precise measurements of magnetic field in the sub parsec region near the black hole and its evolution. The low band of SKA-I will also be useful to study circularly polarized emission from Sun and comparing various models of field configurations with observations.     

Relative contributions of crust and mantle to generation of Campanian high-K calc-alkaline I-type granitoids in a subduction setting, with special reference to the Harşit Pluton, Eastern Turkey

We present elemental and Sr–Nd–Pb isotopic data for the magmatic suite (~79 Ma) of the Harşit pluton, from the Eastern Pontides (NE Turkey), with the aim of determining its magma source and geodynamic evolution. The pluton comprises granite, granodiorite, tonalite and minor diorite (SiO₂ = 59.43–76.95 wt%), with only minor gabbroic diorite mafic microgranular enclaves in composition (SiO₂ = 54.95–56.32 wt%), and exhibits low Mg# (<46). All samples show a high-K calc-alkaline differentiation trend and I-type features. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns are fractionated [(La/Yb) _n  = 2.40–12.44] and display weak Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.30–0.76). The rocks are characterized by enrichment of LILE and depletion of HFSE. The Harşit host rocks have weak concave-upward REE patterns, suggesting that amphibole and garnet played a significant role in their generation during magma segregation. The host rocks and their enclaves are isotopically indistinguishable. Sr–Nd isotopic data for all of the samples display I _Sr = 0.70676–0.70708, ε _Nd(79 Ma) = −4.4 to −3.3, with T _DM = 1.09–1.36 Ga. The lead isotopic ratios are (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) = 18.79–18.87, (²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) = 15.59–15.61 and (²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) = 38.71–38.83. These geochemical data rule out pure crustal-derived magma genesis in a post-collision extensional stage and suggest mixed-origin magma generation in a subduction setting. The melting that generated these high-K granitoidic rocks may have resulted from the upper Cretaceous subduction of the Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan oceanic slab beneath the Eurasian block in the region. The back-arc extensional events would have caused melting of the enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle and formed mafic magma. The underplating of the lower crust by mafic magmas would have played a significant role in the generation of high-K magma. Thus, a thermal anomaly induced by underplated basic magma into a hot crust would have caused partial melting in the lower part of the crust. In this scenario, the lithospheric mantle-derived basaltic melt first mixed with granitic magma of crustal origin at depth. Then, the melts, which subsequently underwent a fractional crystallization and crustal assimilation processes, could ascend to shallower crustal levels to generate a variety of rock types ranging from diorite to granite. Sr–Nd isotope modeling shows that the generation of these magmas involved ~65–75% of the lower crustal-derived melt and ~25–35% of subcontinental lithospheric mantle. Further, geochemical data and the Ar–Ar plateau age on hornblende, combined with regional studies, imply that the Harşit pluton formed in a subduction setting and that the back-arc extensional period started by least ~79 Ma in the Eastern Pontides.     

Sources and petrogenesis of Jurassic granitoids in the Yusufeli area,Northeastern Turkey: Implications for pre- and post-collisional lithospheric thinning of the eastern Pontides

Small granitoids emplaced into the early Jurassic volcani-clastic succession in the Yusufeli area, northeastern Turkey, can be temporally and geochemically classified into two groups: early Jurassic low-K and late Jurassic high-K. ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar hornblende analyses yielded 188.0 ± 4.3 Ma for the Dutlup?nar intrusion, dating the subduction related rifting in the region. It comprises metaluminous to weakly peraluminous (ASI = 0.94–1.11) granodiorite and, to a lesser extent, tonalite whose K₂O-poor (< 2.04 wt.%) nature and weak negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu? = 0.9–0.7) preclude derivation by fractional crystallization from a K-rich melt. Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic data reveal derivation by partial melting from an already cooled tholeiitic basic rocks which had mantle-like isotope signature. The Sumbated intrusion formed in the late Jurassic (153.0 ± 3.4 Ma) and consists chiefly of metaluminous (ASI = 0.84–0.99) quartz monzodiorite. Medium to high-K₂O, relatively high MgO and Sr contents, flat HREE patterns without prominent Eu anomalies, slightly positive ε_Nd(t) values (+ 1.5 to + 2.5) and low I_Sr ratios (0.7046–0.7056) are consistent with an origin by dehydration melting of a juvenile source, above the garnet stability field, dominated by likely K-amphibole bearing calc-alkaline mafic rocks. Geochemical data show that fractional crystallization from a Sumbated-like quartz monzodioritic magma is the fundamental process responsible for the evolved compositional range of the Keçikaya intrusion. The geochemical and geochronological data presented here indicate that the late Jurassic magmatism occurred in a post-collisional setting. Slab-breakoff, which was followed by shortly after collision, seems to be the most plausible mechanism for the generation of medium to high-K calc-alkaline rocks of the Sumbated and the Keçikaya intrusions, indicating a switch in the geodynamic setting, e.g., from pre-collision to post-collision in the middle Jurassic in the eastern Pontides.