The Turkei anorthosite complex revisited

Geological investigation in recent years reveals that the anorthosite-leuconorite massif (81 sq km) is much larger than known from previous studies. The massif is bordered by a suite of garnetiferous felsic rocks comprising quartz monzonite gneiss, granite gneiss and megacrystic K-feldspar-bearing granite. Ferrodiorites, hitherto unknown from this area, occur as veins at the massif-felsic suite interface, and as rare apophyses within leuconorites at the massif margin. The massif and the bordering felsic rocks were presumably emplaced during the earliest of the three phases of folding documented by the metasedimentary gneisses that host the massif. The petrographic and geochemical characteristics suggest that the low-K anorthosite-leuconoriteferrodiorite suite does not share a common parentage with the bordering high-K felsic intrusives. The anorthosites and leuconorites were derived by polybaric fractionation of mantle-derived melts. The ferrodiorites are anorthosite residual melts that were not entirely segregated from the host solids. By contrast, the granite gneisses and granites originated by incongruent melting of crustal rocks. The chemical differences between quartz monzonite and granite gneisses point to their derivation from different crustal precursors.