The Plio-Quaternary Calc-Alkaline Magmatism in Azerbaijan (NW Iran) and Comparison with Similar Magmatism in Eastern Turkey

The Plio-Quaternary calc-alkaline magmatism in Azerbaijan, northwest Iran, occurs as stratovolcanoes, lava flows and domes consisting of andesitic basalts, andesites, dacites, rhyodacites, and pyroclastic materials. The volcanic rocks unconformably cover the Miocene sedimentary formations. The chemistry of the felsic-intermediate volcanic rocks indicates that the parent magmas are medium-K calc-alkaline and metaluminous in nature, and are distinguished by Na2O/K2O> 1. The volcanic rocks are enriched in LILE and LREE, and depleted in Y, Nb, and HREE, and display highly fractionated REE patterns, with no Eu anomaly. They display post-collision and continental margin arcs affinities. The post collision convergence between Arabia and Eurasia continental plates, starting in Miocene, resulted in significant shortening, thickening, and uplift of the crust in northwestern Iran and eastern Turkey, and shaped the present Iran-Turkey Plateau. The thermal perturbation processes in the underlying asthenospheric mantle led to partial melting at a low degree, producing alkali- basalt magmas, with garnet remaining stable in the source region. The ascent of the basaltic magma and its emplacement in the lower crust resulted in the partial melting of the crustal materials and development of acidic magma. These processes led to the ascent and eruption of the felsic magmas prior to the mafic magmas. Mixing of mantle-derived mafic magmas with felsic magmas of crustal origin, produced hybrid magmas of intermediate composition. The occurrence of inverted volcanic sequences, where olivine-alkaline basalts are underlain by calc-alkaline felsic-intermediate rocks, are typical features of bimodal volcanic activities in the Plio-Quaternary times in Azerbaijan. There are mineralogical as well as geochemical evidences that AFC-type processes were involved in the evolution of the Plio-Quaternary volcanic rocks in Azerbaijan. A comparison of geological and geochemical characteristics of the Plio-Quaternary volcanic rocks from northwest Iran with those from eastern Turkey indicates that the two areas share similar evolution paths in the petrogenesis of magmatic rocks.