Convergence-aligned foreland magmatism in the Arabia-Anatolia Collision: geochronological evidence from the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex, south-east Turkey

Abstract

New 40Ar/39Ar ages are presented for volcanic rocks from the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex (KVC) in SE Anatolia. These extend the oldest age recognised for the KVC for lavas from the Siverek Phase plateau basalt back to at least 17 Ma. Our data agree with prior studies that the second, Karacadağ Phase of igneous activity began at about 4.5 Ma with a peak between 2 and 1 Ma, but in contrast to previous work we find that this included volcanism on the Mt. Karacadağ ridge from the earliest part of this phase. Construction of the Mt. Karacadağ ridge coincided with development of the prominent east?west striking Abd El Aziz and Sinjar compressional antiforms, which lie approximately 100 km to the south. These provide complementary evidence for the orientation of compressional deformation across a broad zone of the leading edge of the Arabian Plate as it collided with Anatolia between 4 and 1 Ma. The new data also indicate that the compression-aligned deformation of the foreland magmatism may have permitted tapping of melts from greater depth in the probably asthenospheric mantle than occurred prior to 4 Ma. However, magmas from throughout the history of the KVC contain some components derived from the lithospheric mantle.