Petrology and geochemistry of orthoamphibolites from the Variscan metamorphic sequences of the South Tisia in Croatia - an overview with geodynamic implications

• Published in: International journal of earth sciences : Geologische Rundschau 2002-10, Vol.91 (5), p.787-798
• Main Authors: Pamić, Jakob, Balen, Dražen, Tibljaš, Darko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Basalt; Continental crust; Fractionation; Geochemistry; Geophysics; Petrology; Trace elements; Upper mantle
• ISSN: 1437-3254; 1437-3262
• DOI: 10.1007/s00531-002-0258-y

In the southern Pannonian Basin, the Variscan Barrovian- and overprinted Abukuma-type progressive metamorphic sequences of the South Tisia in Slavonian Mts. (SM) and Mt. Moslavacka Gora (MG) are interlayered with orthoamphibolites. These sequences represent part of a disrupted Variscan belt that extends southeastwards of the Bohemian Massif through the Carpathians to the Caucasus. Orthoamphibolites contain hornblende (Mg-hornblende, tschermakite, pargasite, and edenite), plagioclase An^sub 48-98^ (MG) and An^sub 26-35^ (SM), biotite, grossular (MG) and almandine (SM) enriched garnet, diopside (MG), with accessory ilmenite, titanite, and clinozoisite. Based on major and trace element analyses and CIPW norms, these orthoamphibolites, which originally were olivine tholeiites to slightly alkalic basalts, can be correlated with tholeiites of consuming plate margins. δ^sup 18^O of orthoamphibolites varies from 5.8 to 7.1[per thousand], the measured ^sup 87^Sr/^sup 86^Sr ratio from 0.70435 to 0.70665, which indicates slight continental crust contamination, and the calculated ratio from 0.70262 to 0.70535, indicating an upper mantle origin of the original basaltic melts. For associated penecontemporaneous I-type granitoids, the calculated initial ^sup 87^Sr/^sup 86^Sr ratio also have upper mantle values ranging between 0.70293 and 0.70368. Geochemical data for orthoamphibolites and the associated penecontemporaneous I-type granites, and the occurrence of alpine-type ultramafic bodies within the Barrovian sequence, indicate that they have many features in common with orogenic associations related to recent subduction-related settings. Some characteristic element ratios suggest back-arc basin environments and the Ce/K vs. Ce diagram suggests a pargasite-lherzolite source. Its partial melting gave primitive basaltic melts of olivine tholeiite to slight alkalic affinities that produced at first differentiated mafic rocks by olivine fractionation (future orthoamphibolites) and, afterwards, a strongly differentiated suite of I-type granitoids by amphibole fractionation. Magma emplacement and subsequent AFC processes took place in subduction environments preceding the main Variscan deformational metamorphic event during which orthoamphibolites were generated. This interpretation is compatible with geodynamic modeling of this part of the Paleotethys.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]