To solve a long-lasting controversy on the timing and mechanism of generation of the western Anatolian graben system, new data have been collected from a mapping project in western Anatolia, which reveal that initially north-south trending graben basins were formed under an east-west extensional regime during Early Miocene times. The extensional openings associated with approximately north-south trending oblique slip faults provided access for calc-alkaline, hybrid magmas to reach the surface. A northsouth extensional regime began during Late Miocene time. During this period a major breakaway fault was formed. Part of the lower plate was uplifted and cropped out later in the Bozda~ Horst, and above the upper plate approximately north-south trending crossgrabens were developed. Along these fault systems, alkaline basalt lavas were extruded. The north-south extension was interrupted at the end of Late Miocene or Early Pliocene times, as evidenced by a regional horizontal erosional surface which developed across Neogene rocks, including Upper Miocene-Lower Pliocene strata. This erosion nearly obliterated the previously formed topographic irregularities, including the Bozda~ elevation. Later, the erosional surface was disrupted and the structures which controlled development of the Lower-Upper Miocene rocks were cut by approximately east-west trending normal faults formed by rejuvenated north-south extension. This has led to development of the present-day east-west trending grabens during Plio-Quaternary time.cene ($eng6r et al. 1985; GOrt~r et al. 1995).

Post-collisional magmatism in western Anatolia began in the Eocene, and has occurred in discrete pulses throughout the Cenozoic as it propagated from north to south, producing volcano-plutonic associations with varying chemical compositions. This apparent SW migration of magmatism and accompanying extension through time was a result of the thermally induced collapse of the western Anatolian orogenic belt, which formed during the collision of the Sakarya and Tauride–Anatolide continental blocks in the late Paleocene. The thermal input and melt sources for this prolonged magmatism were provided first by slab break-off-generated aesthenospheric flow, then by lithospheric delamination-related aesthenospheric flow, followed by tectonic extension-driven upward aesthenospheric flow. The first magmatic episode is represented by Eocene granitoid plutons and their extrusive carapace that are linearly distributed along the Izmir–Ankara suture zone south of the Marmara Sea. These suites show moderately evolved compositions enriched in incompatible elements similar to subduction zone-influenced subalkaline magmas. Widespread Oligo-Miocene volcanic and plutonic rocks with medium- to high-K calc-alkaline compositions represent the next magmatic episode. Partial melting and assimilation-fractional crystallization of enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle-derived magmas were important processes in the genesis and evolution of the parental magmas, which experienced decreasing subduction influence and increasing crustal contamination during the evolution of the Eocene and Oligo-Miocene volcano-plutonic rocks. Collision-induced lithospheric slab break-off provided an influx of aesthenospheric heat and melts that resulted in partial melting of the previously subduction-metasomatized mantle lithosphere beneath the suture zone, producing the Eocene and Oligo-Miocene igneous suites. The following magmatic phase during the middle Miocene (16–14 Ma) developed mildly alkaline bimodal volcanic rocks that show a decreasing amount of crustal contamination and subduction influence in time. Both melting of a subduction-modified lithospheric mantle and aesthenospheric mantle-derived melt contribution played a significant role in the generation of the magmas of these rocks. This magmatic episode was attended by region-wide extension that led to the formation of metamorphic core complexes and graben systems. Aesthenospheric upwelling caused by partial delamination of the lithospheric root beneath the western Anatolian orogenic belt was likely responsible for the melt evolution of these mildly alkaline volcanics. Lithospheric delamination may have been caused by ‘peeling off’ during slab rollback. The last major phase of magmatism in the region, starting c.12 Ma, is represented by late Miocene to Quaternary alkaline to super-alkaline volcanic rocks that show OIB-like geochemical features with progressively more potassic compositions increasing toward south in time. These rocks are spatially associated with major extensional fault systems that acted as natural conduits for the transport of uncontaminated alkaline magmas to the surface. The melt source for this magmatic phase carried little or no subduction component and was produced by the decompressional melting of aesthenospheric mantle, which flowed in beneath the attenuated continental lithosphere in the Aegean extensional province. This time-progressive evolution of Cenozoic magmatism and extension in western Anatolia has been strongly controlled by the interplay between regional plate-tectonic events and the mantle dynamics, and provides a realistic template for post-collisional magmatism and crustal extension in many orogenic belts.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Geology. A B S T R A C TPostcollisional Eocene magmatism in northwestern Anatolia produced two E-W-trending linear belts of plutons along and north of the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone (IAESZ), whose geochemical features and age relations support a slab breakoff model for their petrogenetic oinevolution. The suture zone granitoids (SZGs) in the southern belt have ages around 54-48 Ma, are intrusive into blueschist rocks of the IAESZ, and are composed of diorite, quartz diorite, granodiorite, and syenite. The Marmara granitoids (MGs) in the northern belt are slightly younger (48-35 Ma), intrusive into the Paleozoic-Mesozoic crystalline basement rocks of the Sakarya continent, and composed of monzogranite, granite, and granodiorite. Both SZGs and MGs have moderately to highly evolved medium-to high-K calc-alkaline compositions and are predominantly metaluminous I-type granitoids. Nd-Sr isotope systematics ( ; ) and trace element compositions of the SZGs and 87 86 143 144 Sr/ Sr p 0.70624-0.70704 Nd/ Nd p 0.512430-0.512439 (t) (t)MGs suggest a metasomatized lithospheric mantle source modified by the Late Cretaceous subduction event for their parental melts. Partial melting of this mantle lithosphere was facilitated by asthenospheric upwelling and associated thermal perturbation in response to a slab breakoff experienced by the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere subducted beneath the Sakarya continent. Mantle-derived melts were modified by crustal contamination, assimilation, and fractional crystallization processes as they migrated through the overlying crust. Stronger depletion of the MG rocks in Eu, Ba, Sr, and P and their higher contents of Pb, K, Ni, and SiO 2 in comparison to the SZG rocks suggest greater amounts of crustal contamination during the evolution of their magmas rising through the Sakarya continental crust. The geochemistry, petrogenesis, and geochronology of the subparallel SZG and MG belts along and north of the IAESZ provide a case study of the evolution of slab breakoff magmatism in an Alpine-style collision zone.

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