Age and origin of Miocene gabbroid intrusions in the northern part of the Lesser Caucasus

The results of isotope-geochronological and petrological-geochemical study are reported for Neogene mafic intrusive rocks distributed in the northern part of the Lesser Caucasus (Georgia). It is shown that the young plutonic bodies were formed here in two magmatic stages: in the Middle Miocene (around 15.5 Ma) and in the terminal Miocene (9-7.5 Ma). The first age group includes a microsyenitic massif in Guria (Western Georgia), which was formed in a setting of active continental margin related to the subduction of oceanic part of the Arabian plate beneath the Transcaucasus. The Late Miocene intrusive magmatism already records the incipient within-plate activity: small polyphase bodies of alkaline gabbroids and lamprophyres of Samtskhe (South Georgia) dated around 9-8.5 Ma and teschenite intrusions of Guria dated at 7.5Ma. Petrological-geochemical and isotope-geochemical data indicate that the parental melts of the rocks of all studied Neogene plutonic bodies of the Lesser Caucasus were derived from a single mantle source. Its characteristics are close to those of a Common hypothetical reservoir, which is usually regarded as a source of oceanic and continental hot spot basalts (OIB) but shows some regional peculiarity. The role of crustal assimilation and crystallization differentiation in the genesis of the Miocene rocks of Guria was limited, which is related to the rapid ascent of deep melts to the surface (in a setting of local extension) without intense interaction with host sequences under the absence of consolidated continental lithosphere beneath this part of the Transcaucasus. The parental mantle-derived magmas of the Neogene gabbroids of Samtskhe were strongly contributed by upper crustal material, which caused a change in their isotope (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr up to 0.70465, ?_Nd up to + 2.8) and geochemical characteristics relative to the regional mantle source. In addition, the crustal contamination of mantle basic melts during the late phases of the Samtskhe plutonic bodies formation led to their intense fractionation with precipitation of mainly olivine and pyroxene. The larger scale mantle-crustal interaction during formation of the Samtskhe intrusions was probably related to the fact that the upper lithosphere in this sector of the Transcaucasus contained large Paleozoic blocks, which were made up of granite-metamorphic complexes and prevented a rapid ascent of mantle melts to the surface. The rocks of these blocks were presumably assimilated by mantle magmas in the intermediate chambers at the upper crustal levels.