Mineral chemistry and termometry of the high-Mg ultramafic lava flows (Komatiite), NE Iran: evidence of plume-arc interaction in the Upper Paleozoic Mashhad-Fariman subduction zone

Abstract

In the northeast of Iran, there are some outcrops of high-Mg ultramafic volcanic rocks. These rocks have been interpreted as an ideal ophiolite sequence related to the closure of Paleo-Tethys. According to detailed field observations, the komatiitic lava flows in Shandiz- Virani- Mashhad Complex (SVMC) and Fariman Complex (FC), are interlayered with the Upper Paleozoic submarine turbiditic sediments (Carboniferous-Permian). These rocks have a wide range of volcanic facies and according to the lithofacies characteristics, are divided into three groups of differentiated, undifferentiated lava flows and pillow lavas with a variety of volcanic textures and glass groundmass and with the main minerals of olivine, chromian spinel, clinopyroxene and amphibole. In this paper, the komatiitic nature of these rocks has been proven by explicit evidence from the field characteristics, petrography, internal stratigraphy and mineral chemistry. Also, the interaction of a mantle plume with the late Paleozoic (Permian) northeast subduction zone of Paleo-Tethys in NE Iran is considered as the suitable petrogenetic model involved in the genesis of the Komatiitic magma. This model can well justify and interpret the various geochemical characteristics of the studied rocks.

Keywords

• mineral chemistry
• thermometry
• komatiite
• mashhad
• fariman
• iran