Abstract
The Caucasian-Arabian segment of the huge Late Cenozoic Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt marks a zone of the indentation of the Arabian plate into the Eurasian plate. The segment is formed by two tectonic domains: (1) the EW-striking Greater Caucasus (GC) at the north, which represents the southern margin of East European Craton, tectonically uplifted along the Main Caucasian Fault (MCF), and (2) Caucasian-Arabian Syntaxis (CAS) at the south; it includes arc-like tectonic domains of the Lesser Caucasus and Eastern Anatolia, vast thrust-folded belt between Eurasian and Arabian plates. A large NS-trending positive isostatic anomaly is characterized for CAS which suggests the presence of a mantle plume head beneath it. CAS is characterized by intense Neogene-Quaternary volcanism where two different types of magmatism occur: (1) extensive basaltic plateau with geochemical features of plume-related rocks, as well as (2) calc-alkaline volcanics, which are typical for supra subduction settings. However, according to seismic data, there is no subduction zone beneath the GC, but some north-directed seismic zones up to 50–70 km depth occurred beneath the CAS which, probably, can generate calc-alkaline magmas. So, we are suggesting that “mixed” magmatism in Caucasian-Arabian convergence considered here two independent magma sources: mantle plume and “embryonic” subduction zones.
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Sharkov, E.V. (2019). Caucasian-Arabian Syntaxis, The Alpine-Himalayan Continental Collisional Zone. In: Rossetti, F., et al. The Structural Geology Contribution to the Africa-Eurasia Geology: Basement and Reservoir Structure, Ore Mineralisation and Tectonic Modelling. CAJG 2018. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01455-1_68
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