Polybaric melting of a single mantle source during the Neogene Siverek phase of the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex, SE Turkey

Siverek plateau basalts represent the Neogene activity of the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex in southeast Turkey and can be divided into two groups based on incompatible element concentrations. Group 1 is largely basaltic, containing some alkali basalts, while Group 2 consists of alkali basalts, trachybasalts and tephrites. The lavas display a range in major element concentrations that are consistent with restricted amounts of differentiation in the crust. Melts from both groups have experienced variable, small amounts of interaction with crustal rocks, which is responsible for most of the isotopic heterogeneity and caused significant Ba-enrichment. Neither fractional crystallisation nor crustal contamination can account for the differences in trace element enrichment observed between the two groups. Group 1 is derived mainly from the spinel lherzolite field by > 1% partial melting. Group 2 lavas were derived from very similar mantle but by smaller degrees of melting and contain a larger relative contribution from garnet-lherzolite. The Siverek plateau lavas are indistinguishable from contemporaneous magmatism in the Karasu Valley of southern Turkey and in northernmost Syria. Together, these plateau basalt fields represent mantle upwelling and melting beneath the thinned and/or weakened Arabian Plate as it migrated northwards during the Neogene.

► Siverek plateau basalts are Neogene product of the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex in southeast Turkey.
► Siverek lavas experienced restricted differentiation in, and minor contamination by, the crust.
► Siverek lavas closely resemble contemporaneous magmatism in south Turkey and north Syria.
► North Arabian Neogene plateau basalt fields represent melting beneath thin or weak lithosphere.
► Siverek melting occurred because of mantle upwelling beneath migrating Arabian Plate.