Oceanization of the northern Neotethys: Geochemical evidence from ophiolitic melange basalts within the İzmir–Ankara suture belt, NW Turkey

The remnants of the Neotethyan Izmir–Ankara Ocean, the main branch of Neotethys in the eastern Mediterranean are represented by the Dagküplü Melange Complex in Central Sakarya, NW Turkey. It comprises several blocks or tectonic slices of pillow lavas, some of which include mudstones and radiolarian cherts as intra-pillow-fillings or interlayers. In the Igdecik area, a huge basaltic block has been studied in detail. Geochemical data reveal three distinct basalt types separated by sheared contacts. The first of these groups is an enriched mid-oceanic ridge basalt (E-MORB) type which is enriched in the most incompatible trace elements relative to normal MORB (N-NORB) in addition to having heavy rare earth elements (HREE) depletion, suggesting the influence of residual garnet in their mantle source region. The second is back-arc basin basalt (BABB) type with relatively depleted trace element compositions with respect to N-MORB together with a negative Nb anomaly, suggesting generation above an intra-oceanic subduction zone where partial melts are derived from a depleted (MORB-like) mantle. The final group is island-arc tholeiite (IAT) type, displaying the most depleted trace element abundances among the studied groups in addition to marked Nb depletion, reflecting intra-oceanic supra-subduction zone (SSZ) signatures similar to the BABB-type but requiring a depleted mantle source which has experienced a previous melt extraction. Combined with a previously ascribed Late Triassic age of Tekin et al. (2002) (221 Ma, Late Carnian; based on the radiolarian fauna found in a chert layer alternating with mudstones), the associated basalts with E-MORB-type geochemical signatures, suggest formation of oceanic crust as early as Late Carnian. This age is the oldest thus far obtained from the basalts of the Izmir–Ankara Ocean. This new data provides constraints on tectonic models for the opening the Izmir–Ankara Ocean and its relationship to other branches of the Neotethyan ocean in the Eastern Mediterranean area.