Integrated Radiolaria, benthic foraminifera and conodont biochronology of the pelagic Permian blocks/tectonic slices and geochemistry of associated volcanic rocks from the Mersin Mélange, southern Turkey: Implications for the Permian evolution of the northern Neotethys

Abstract

Blocks and tectonic slices within the Mersin Mélange (southern Turkey), which are of Northern Neotethyan origin (Izmir–Ankara–Erzincan Ocean (IAE)), were studied in detail by using radiolarian, conodont, and foraminiferal assemblages on six different stratigraphic sections with well‐preserved Permian succesions. The basal part of the Permian sequence, composed of alternating chert and mudstone with basic volcanics, is assigned to the late Asselian (Early Permian) based on radiolarians. The next basaltic interval in the sequence is dated as Kungurian. The highly alkaline basic volcanics in the sequence are extremely enriched, similar to kimberlitic/lamprophyric magmas generated at continental intraplate settings. Trace element systematics suggest that these lavas were generated in a continental margin involving a metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle source (SCLM). The middle part of the Permian sequences, dated by benthic foraminifera and conodont assemblages, includes detrital limestones with chert interlayers and neptunian dykes of middle Wordian to earliest Wuchiapingian age. Higher in the sequence, detrital limestones are overlain by alternating chert and mudstone with intermittent microbrecciated beds of early Wuchiapingian to middle Changhsingian (Late Permian) age based on the radiolarians. A large negative shift at the base of the Lopingian at the upper part of section is correlated to negative shifts at the Guadalupian/Lopingian boundary associated with the end‐Guadalupian mass extinction event. All these findings indicate that a continental rift system associated with a possible mantle plume existed during the late Early to Late Permian period. This event was responsible for the rupturing of the northern Gondwanan margin related to the opening of the IAE Ocean. When the deep basinal features of the Early Permian volcano‐sedimentary sequence are considered, the proto IAE oceanic crust formed possibly before the end of the Permian. This, in turn, suggests that the opening of the IAE Ocean dates back to as early as the Permian.

Thematic section: Proceedings of InterRad XV

“…Tekin et al () investigated the biostratigraphy of the radiolarians, benthic foraminifers, and conodonts in the pelagic Permian blocks/tectonic slices and the geochemistry of the associated volcanic rocks in the Mersin Mélange, southern Turkey. They also discuss the development of the Northern Neotethys.…”

The Middle Permian (Capitanian) carbonate platform evolution and stratigraphic architecture of a Neo‐Tethys rim basin, Central Pakistan

“…For the identification of the taxa, various morphological features were considered, for example, types of coiling, the opening of the spire, coarseness of the marginal cord, alar prolongation, overlap of spiral sheets, septal filaments as well as numbers, shapes, and heights of chambers. Moreover, the published literature on Middle to Late Permian foraminifera was consulted for precise identification of age‐diagnostic species (e.g., Davydov & Arefifard, 2013; Gaillot & Vachard, 2007; Hayward et al, 2012; Jenny‐Deshusses & Baud, 1989; Kobayashi, 2012a, 2012b; Mertmann & Sarfraz, 2000; Nestell et al, 2006; Shahinfar et al, 2020; Tekin et al, 2018). The identified foraminiferal taxa from the examined section of the Wargal Formation establish a range from Late Wordian to Late Wuchiapingian.…”

“…A composite log was constructed showing the vertical distribution of microfacies, depositional environments, and sequence stratigraphy (Figure 5). The age diagnostic larger benthic foraminifera was identified by consulting the published literature (e.g., Davydov & Arefifard, 2013; Gaillot & Vachard, 2007; Hayward et al, 2012; Jenny‐Deshusses & Baud, 1989; Kobayashi, 2012a, 2012b; Mertmann & Sarfraz, 2000; Nestell, Nestell, Wardlaw, & Sweatt, 2006; Shahinfar, Yousefi Yeganeh, Arefifard, Vachard, & Payne, 2020; Tekin et al, 2018). The porosity types were quantified based on image analysis of thin‐sections with 300 point counts per thin‐section (Table 2).…”

Petrology of the late Triassic mafic volcanic rocks from the Antalya Complex, southern Turkey: evidence for mantle source characteristics during the Neotethyan rifting

“…The Neotethys Ocean opened between the north of Arabian and Indian plates during the Middle to Upper Permian, as a result of the break-up of Gondwana (Ricou, 1994;Stampfli and Borel, 2002;Lapierre et al, 2004;Tekin et al, 2019). In southern Turkey, data from Tauriderelated units (Mackintosh and Robertson, 2012) show that the rifting started during the Late Permian before extending further during the Early Triassic (Poisson, 1977;Robertson and Woodcock, 1982;Tekin and Sönmez, 2010), while data from the Antalya Complex Woodcock, 1981, 1982;Tekin, 2002a), the Mamonia Complex (Robertson and Woodcock, 1979;Malpas et al, 1993;Chan et al, 2008), and the Koçali Complex (Robertson et al, 2016), (c) from the Antalya Complex (Robertson & Waldron 1990).…”

“…Studies performed on the Antalya Complex (Robertson and Waldron, 1990;Varol et al, 2007;Maury et al, 2008;Elitok, 2012), the Mersin ophiolitic mélange (Parlak and Robertson, 2004;Tekin et al, 2019), the Bitlis Massif (Perinçek, 1980), the Koçali Complex (Varol et al, 2011;Robertson et al, 2016) in Turkey, the Mamonia Complex in southwestern Cyprus (Lapierre et al, 2007), the Baer-Bassist ophiolites in northern Syria (Delaune-Mayère, 1984;Al-Riyami et al, 2002), the Avdella mélange in Greece (Jones and Robertson, 1991), the Hawasina basin in Oman (Lapierre et al, 2004), the central and southern Greece (Pe-Piper, 1982), Albania (Shallo et al, 1990), and the Dinarides in Serbia (Robertson and Karamata, 1994) documented Permo-Triassic volcanisms associated with the rifting of the Neotethyan oceanic basins.…”