40Ar–39 Ar dating, whole-rock and Sr-Nd isotope geochemistry of the Middle Eocene calc-alkaline volcanic rocks in the Bayburt area, Eastern Pontides (NE Turkey): Implications for magma evolution in an extension-related setting

Discussions continue about whether Middle Eocene magmatism in the Eastern Pontides is associated with collision or subduction. This paper presents new whole-rock geochemistry, Sr-Nd isotopic and ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar age data for Middle Eocene volcanic rocks from the Bayburt area of the Eastern Pontides (NE Turkey) to investigate their sources and evolutionary history. The new ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar ages reveal that these volcanic rocks erupted between 44.6 ± 0.1 Ma and 43.5 ± 0.1 Ma, within the Lutetian (Middle Eocene). The studied volcanic rocks are composed of basalt, andesite, basaltic andesite and minor dacite lava and pyroclastic rocks. These rocks consist of plagioclase, amphibole, pyroxene, olivine, biotite, sanidine and minor quartz phenocrysts with Fe-Ti oxides. They have microlithic, hyalo-microlithic, porphyritic and rarely glomeroporphyritic textures. The volcanic rocks have low to high-K calc-alkaline affinities. They display enrichment in large-ion lithophile elements and depletion in high-field strength elements with high Th/Yb ratios, which indicate that the magmas forming the volcanic rocks were derived from lithospheric mantle sources enriched by mostly slab-derived fluids in the spinel stability field. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) values vary between 0.70485 and 0.70551 and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd_(i) values vary between 0.51255 and 0.51267. These data correspond to the mantle array on the isotope ratio diagram. The main solidification processes consist of fractional crystallization with minor assimilation. In light of the data obtained in this study together with data from previous studies, petrogenetic character of the Middle Eocene magmas from the southern parts of the Eastern Pontides may be explained by melting of an enriched lithospheric mantle source initially metasomatized by subduction fluids in a post-collisional extensional-related tectonic setting.