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| Titel |
Two contrasting modes of continental break-up associated with the formation of the Paleo- and Neo-Tethys in Iran: Implications for petrological and geodynamic evolution at a regional scale |
| VerfasserIn |
Emilio Saccani, Michele Marroni, Luca Pandolfi, Khalil Allahyari, Zohreh Azimzadeh |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250090030
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-4244.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| In Iran, two partial ophiolitic sequences, which are broadly classifiable as “Continental Margin Ophiolite” (CMO), record the tectono-magmatic processes that occur during the continental break-up preceding oceanic basin formation. They are represented by: (1) the Early Carboniferous Misho Mafic Complex (NW Iran) and (2) the Triassic sequences in the Kermanshah ophiolite (Zagros Belt) that are associated with the formation of the Paleo- and Neo-Tethys, respectively. Both CMO sequences consist of gabbros, sheeted dykes and basaltic lavas. Moreover, the Kermanshah CMO also includes exhumed sub-continental mantle lherzolites. Both sequences include rocks showing variable incompatible element enrichments, ranging from N-MORB to E-MORB, P-MORB and alkaline basalt compositions and are interpreted to have formed from partial melting a depleted MORB-type mantle source (DMM) metasomatized by variable proportions of plume-type, enriched components. Nonetheless, geological evidence and petrogenetic modeling suggest that the continental break-up of the Paleo- and Neo-Tethys occurred in two quite different ways.
The initial rift-drift tectonics of the Paleo-Tethys was triggered by a mantle plume activity and was strongly affected by plume-related magmatism and associated lithospheric weakening at a regional scale. This conclusion is consistent with the models proposed for the Paleo-Tethys margins in central-eastern Asia.
In contrast, the initial rift-drift tectonics of the Neo-Tethys was characterized by a type of rifted margin, which is intermediate between the amagmatic type (Ligurian Tethys type) and the magmatic, plume-influenced type. Indeed, likewise the Ligurian Tethys, rifting occurred through passive (possibly, asymmetric) extension, which led to the exhumation of the sub-continental mantle. Meanwhile, high Sm/Yb rocks formed at the continent-ocean transition zone by partial melting of a DMM source locally bearing sub-continental garnet-pyroxenite relics. However, in contrast with the Ligurian Tethys model, the Neo-Tethys rift stage was also associated with volcanism featuring a marked influence of plume-type components. Nonetheless, no geological evidence (e.g. regional doming, anomalous thermal regime, basaltic plateaux, magmatic evolution from more depleted to more enriched rocks, etc.) supporting the existence of a Triassic mantle plume activity in this area has been documented. Therefore, the plume-type geochemical signature observed in the Kermanshah CMO sequences can likely be explained with the re-activation of portions of enriched mantle (mantle heterogeneities) that were inherited from the Paleozoic mantle plume associated with the opening of Paleo-Tethys. |
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