Petrology of ultramafic to mafic cumulate rocks from the Göksun
(Kahramanmaras¸ ) ophiolite, southeast Turkey
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Abstract
The Göksun (Kahramanmaras¸ ) ophiolite (GKO), cropping out in a tectonic window bounded by the
Malatya metamorphic unit on both the north and south, is located in the EW-trending lower nappe zone
of the southeast Anatolian orogenic belt (Turkey). It exhibits a complete oceanic lithospheric section and
overlies the Middle Eocene Maden Group/Complex with a tectonic contact at its base. The ophiolitic
rocks and the tectonically overlying Malatya metamorphic (continental) unit were intruded by I-type
calc-alkaline Late Cretaceous granitoid (w81e84 Ma). The ultramafic to cumulates in the GKO are represented
by wehrlite, plagioclase wehrlite, olivine gabbro and gabbro. The crystallization order for the
cumulate rocks is as follows: olivine chromian spinel/clinopyroxene/plagioclase. The major and
trace element geochemistry as well as the mineral chemistry of the ultramafic to mafic cumulate rocks
suggest that the primary magma generating the GKO is compositionally similar to that observed in the
modern island-arc tholeiitic sequences. The mineral chemistry of the ultramafic to mafic cumulates
indicates that they were derived from a mantle source that was previously depleted by earlier partial
melting events. The highly magnesian olivine (Fo77e83), clinopyroxene (Mg# of 82e90) and the highly
Ca-plagioclase (An81e89) exhibit a close similarity to those, which formed in a supra-subduction zone
(SSZ) setting. The field and the geochemical evidence suggest that the GKO formed as part of a much
larger sheet of oceanic lithosphere, which accreted to the base of the Tauride active continental margin,
including the _Ispendere, Kömürhan and the Guleman ophiolites. The latter were contemporaneous and
genetically/tectonically related within the same SSZ setting during the closure of the Neotethyan oceanic
basin (Berit Ocean) between the Taurides to the north and the Bitlis-Pütürge massif to the south during
the Late Cretaceous.
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