Early activity of the largest Cenozoic shield volcano in the circum-Mediterranean area: Mt. Karacadag, SE Turkey

Heterogeneous mantle sources feeding the volcanic activity of Mt. Karacadağ (SE Turkey)

“…6 Ma) that, combined with the results of a companion paper (Lustrino et al, 2010), show the geochemical variation with time of the Karacadag lavas. The aim of this paper is to provide data on the youngest lavas, and to test whether the geochemical variations are related to partial melting of heterogeneous mantle or to the effects of crustal contamination.…”

“…1b). During the first stage -called the Siverek Stage -a volcanic plateau, occasionally up to 700 m thick, but with an average thickness of less than 10 m, was produced during Middle-Late Miocene-Early Pliocene times ($11 to $2.7 Haksal, 1981;Ercan et al, 1990;Lustrino et al, 2010). The volcanic rocks of the Siverek stage account for >80% of the entire surface area of the Mt.…”

“…On the basis of the stratigraphic and geochronological studies (Haksal, 1981;Ercan et al, 1990;Ercan et al, 1991;Notsu et al, 1995;Lustrino et al, 2010), the Karacadag volcanic activity may be divided into three stages (Fig. 1b).…”

“…Its activity lasted from $11 Ma to $0.1 Ma, during which a huge amount of magmas erupted to the surface (covering an area of $10,000 km 2 ; Lustrino et al, 2010), rendering the Karacadag volcano the largest shield volcano of the Circum-Mediterranean Anorogenic Cenozoic Igneous Province (Lustrino and Wilson, 2007).…”

“…The only accessible paper dedicated to the petrology of Karacadag volcano (other papers dealing with this volcano are written in Turkish) is Lustrino et al (2010), in which detailed geochemical, Sr-Nd isotopic and K/Ar age data on the oldest Karacadag volcanics (older than 2. 6 Ma) have been reported.…”