A new perspective on Cenozoic calc-alkaline and shoshonitic volcanic rocks, eastern Saveh (central Iran)

Late Eocene - Oligocene volcanic rocks in the eastern Saveh region of the Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc (UDMA) are representative of Paleogene magmatic activity in Iran. They show a wide range of silica-undersaturated to silica-oversaturated compositions, from basalt-trachy basalt and tephri-phonolite to trachyte-latite. Whole rock chemical compositions define a continuous assemblage of mafic and felsic rocks in terms of SiO2 (46.3 to 71.1 wt.%), Al2O3 (12.5-19.2 wt.%), K2O (2.06-12.23 wt.%) and TiO2 (0.41-1.75 wt.%) contents, Mg number (6.8-51) and K2O/Na2O ratios (0.53-30.2). Abundances of rare earth elements in the tephri-phonolite group are much higher than in the trachyte-latite and basalt-trachy basalt groups. Elevated contents of large ion lithophile elements such as Ba (191-7311 ppm) and Pb (6.49-118 ppm) as well as depletions in high field strength elements such as Nb (2.43-40.6 ppm), Ta (0.15-2.24 ppm), Zr (40.8-258 ppm) and TiO2 (0.40-1.77 wt.%) characterize these rocks. Initial ratios of Sr-87/Sr-86 from 0.7046 to 0.7074 and e(Nd)(t) from +0.9 to +3.3 show that these were derived from parental magma extracted from partial melting of metasomatized mantle, namely amphibole- and/or phlogopite-bearing peridotite. Fractionation of feldspar, clinopyroxene, amphibole and phlogopite, and minor contamination with upper crust was responsible for the large variation of the rock types observed. We explain contemporaneous late Eocene - Oligocene calc-alkaline and high-K magmatic activity in the UDMA as due to the partial melting of both hot metasomatized asthenospheric and subcontinental lithospheric mantle in an extensional tectonic regime. This extensional regime probably developed due to the rollback of the subducted Neo-Tethys oceanic plate.

Automated summary

Late Eocene - Oligocene volcanic rocks in the eastern Saveh region of the Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc show a wide range of compositions, from silica-undersaturated to silica-oversaturated. The rocks were formed by partial melting of hot metasomatized asthenospheric and subcontinental lithospheric mantle.