Petrogenesis of the Neogene alkaline volcanics with implications for post-collisional lithospheric thinning of the Eastern Pontides, NE Turkey

Whole-rock geochemistry, Sr–Nd–Pb isotopes and K–Ar data are reported for alkaline samples collected from the Neogene alkaline volcanics (NAVs) in the Eastern Pontides, northeastern Turkey, in order to investigate their source and petrogenesis and geodynamic evaluation of the region. The NAVs were made of three groups that comprise of basanite–tephrite (feldspar-free; Group A), tephrite–tephriphonolite (feldspar and feldspathoid-bearing; Group B) and alkaline basalt–rhyolite (feldspathoid-free; Group C) series. These rocks cover a broad compositional range from silica-undersaturated to silica-oversaturated types, almost all of which are potassic in character. They show enrichment of LREE and LILE and depletion of HFSE, without a Eu anomaly in most of the mafic samples. Textural features and calculated pressures based on the Cpx-barometer in each series indicate that the alkaline magma equilibrated at shallow crustal depths under a pressure of about 3–4.5 kbar and approximating a crystallization depth of 9–14 km. The NAVs are slightly depleted in isotopic composition, with respect to ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (ranging from 0.705018 to 0.705643) and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd (ranging from 0.512662 to 0.512714) that indicate young Nd model ages (0.51–059 Ga). This may indicate that the parent melts tapped a homogeneous and young lithospheric mantle source which was metasomatized by subduction-derived sediments during the Late Mesozoic. Pb isotopic compositions (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 18.85–18.95; ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 15.60–15.74; ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 38.82–39.25) may also be consistent with a model for an enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle source. Lithospheric thinning and resultant upwelling of asthenosphere induced by lithospheric delamination may have favoured partial melting of chemically enriched, young lithospheric mantle beneath the Eastern Pontides. Then, the melt subsequently underwent a fractional crystallization process along with or without minor amounts of crustal assimilation, generating a wide variety of rock types in a post-collision extensional regime in the Eastern Pontides during the Neogene.