Middle Triassic high-K calc-alkaline effusive and pyroclastic rocks from the Zagorje-Mid-Transdanubian Zone (Mt. Kuna Gora; NW Croatia): mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry and tectonomagmatic affinity

Abstract

This study uses mineralogical, petrological, geochemical, and Sr and Nd isotope data along with K-Ar ages to infer the petrogenesis and geodynamic evolution of Middle Triassic high-K calc-alkaline lavas and their associated pyroclastics of Mt. Kuna Gora in NW Croatia. Their analogue mineralogy and bulk-rock geochemistry testify to the coeval origin of both rock types. Sanidine and plagioclase accompanied by inor augite and Ti-bearing magnetite are the major phases found in a matrix of devitrified volcanic glass and plagioclase microlites. Hydrothermal and
diagenetic processes in the pyroclastics originated the formation of chlorite and white mica, and mixed-layer clay minerals, respectively. Petrography reveals the following crystallization order: spinel→clinopyroxene→plagioclase→alkali-feldspar±Fe-Ti oxides. Geochemical and isotopic data suggests that the studied rocks had a complex origin that included the contamination of subduction-generated magmas by lithospheric mantle melts. This presumes an interplay between fertile arc mantle, subducted continental crust, and depleted or ocean island basalts-like mantle. A low degree of crustal contamination stands as a last step in the formation of such “hybrid” magmas. The subducted Paleotethyan oceanic lithosphere went through processes of partial melting at depths of ~45-49km and pressures of ≤1.6GPa and fractionation that produced melts which gave rise to the studied rocks. In the model we are proposing herein such formed partial melts are related to the demise of the northward subduction of the Paleotethys oceanic lithosphere during the Early to Middle Triassic epoch, which is consistent with an active, ensialic mature volcanic arc developing along Laurussian southern active margins.