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Late Miocene to Pleistocene potassic volcanism in the Republic of Macedonia

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Abstract

The potassic (K) to ultrapotassic (UK) volcanic rocks cropping out in the Vardar Zone of Macedonia and southern Serbia span in age from Late Miocene (6.57 Ма) to Pleistocene (1.47 Ма). The main identified outcrops are in the Kumanovo, Sveti Nikole, Shtip and Demir Kapia areas; the southernmost occurrences of these volcanic rocks are located in the large Kozuf Massif (Voras Massif in Greece) at the Macedonia–Greek border. Three distinct groups may be distinguished. The first group has a shoshonitic affinity and occurs in the Kozuf Massif (LMg-K group); it includes shoshonites to rare rhyolites, with latites and trachytes being the most widespread products. The second group consists of potassic rocks (HMg-K group, K2O/Na2O between 1.0 and 1.8) occurring in both southern Serbia (Cer and Slavujevci) and Macedonia (Djuristhe, near Sveti Nikole). The third group, present only in Macedonia, consists of ultrapotassic rocks (UK group, K2O/Na2O >1.8, Mg# >71) classified as UK shoshonites, UK latites and UK phonotephrites; overall, they show a “Roman Province type” affinity (Group III of Foley, Venturelli, Green, Toscani, Earth Sci Rev 24:81–134, 1987). Geochemically, the studied rocks exhibit strong enrichment in LILE, Th and Pb, as well as relative depletion in Ta–Nb and Hf; such signatures are typical of magmas generated in convergent geotectonic settings. In the HMg-K and UK rocks, Sr and Nd isotopic ratios vary from 0.70768 to 0.71040, and 0.51243 to 0.512149, respectively. The rocks of the LMg-K group show relatively limited Sr and Nd isotope variations (0.7087–0.7093 and 0.51233–0.51229), which correlate with a decrease in MgO and increase in SiO2 contents. The geochemical features of the LMg-K volcanic rocks indicate that their evolution was mainly driven by fractional crystallization coupled with contamination by feldspar-rich crustal materials. In contrast, the HMg-K and UK rocks have not been significantly modified by crustal contamination, and their geochemical features are considered to reflect lithospheric mantle heterogeneity acquired during the subduction of the Western Vardar Ocean and the Apulian plate. The metasomatizing agent was apparently more enriched in Zr, Th, Ta and Ce than in fluid-mobile elements, such as Pb and Cs, suggesting that it was characterized by a high melt/fluid ratio. The potassic and ultrapotassic magmatic activity developed in response to the Pliocene–Pleistocene extension in the Vardar Zone, in turn related to the opposite propagation of extension in the Aegean and Pannonian basins (respectively SW and NE).

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by PRIN (Cofin-MIUR) and by CNR grants. We thank Dejan Prelević and Hilary Downes for their constructive reviews; the editorial handling of Johann Raith was greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Boncev str., bl. 24, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Yotzo Yanev

  2. University St Ciril and Metodii, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Shtip, Republic of Macedonia

    Blazo Boev

  3. Università La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, P.le A. Moro 5, 00184, Rome, Italy

    Carlo Doglioni

  4. Università di Pisa, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Via S. Maria 53, 50126, Pisa, Italy

    Fabrizio Innocenti & Massimo D’Orazio

  5. Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, CNR, Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Fabrizio Innocenti, Piero Manetti & Sonia Tonarini

  6. ATOMKI, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 4001, Debrecen, Hungary

    Zoltan Pecskay

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  1. Yotzo Yanev
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  2. Blazo Boev
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  3. Carlo Doglioni
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  7. Sonia Tonarini
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Correspondence to Sonia Tonarini.

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Editorial handling: J.G. Raith

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Yanev, Y., Boev, B., Doglioni, C. et al. Late Miocene to Pleistocene potassic volcanism in the Republic of Macedonia. Miner Petrol 94, 45–60 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-008-0009-2

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