Geodinamica Acta 22/4 (2009) 189-199

Geodinamica
Acta

Pliocene tourmaline rhyolite dykes from Ikaria Island in the Aegean

back-arc region: geodynamic implications
Emmanuel Baltatzis1*, Dimitrios Kostopoulos1, Athanassios Godelitsas1,
Panagiotis Zachariadis2, Dimitrios Papanikolaou1
1National

and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, Department of Mineralogy and Petrology,
Panepistimioupoli Zographou, 15784 Athens, Greece
2Institut fr Geowissenschsften, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitt, Becherweg 21, 55099 Mainz, Germany
Received: 29/04/09, accepted: 17/07/09

Abstract
Very rare rhyolite dykes cross-cutting a Miocene I-type biotite-granite were discovered on Ikaria Island in the Aegean back-arc region. Their
intrusion postdates exhumation of the granite to brittle crust at about 6.0-3.6 Ma; hence a Pliocene age is inferred. Petrological, geochemical and isotopic arguments indicate an origin through melting of crustal lithologies (tourmaline greywackes/semipelites) with no detectable
contribution from asthenospheric sources. Strontium isotope ratios are relatively low unlike values for sediments entering the Hellenic trench
but similar to those for certain Miocene Cycladic I-type granites and low-Rb Permo-Carboniferous Cycladic basement acid orthogneisses.
Crust-mantle Sr-Nd isotopic mixing modelling also requires a low-Sr crustal end-member. The presence of Pliocene rhyolitic volcanism in
the Aegean back-arc region in places distant from any possible subduction zone inluence is attributed to slab tear at the eastern end of the
Hellenic trench and attendant entrance and lateral displacement of asthenosphere through the thus formed slab window that, in turn, brought
about kinematically mismatched continental escape in the subduction hangingwall. Extension along the boundary between the differentially
moving Aegean and Anatolian blocks caused the intrusion of basaltic sills at middle crustal levels and the formation of acid anatectic melts
from low-Sr, B-bearing quartzofeldspathic metasedimentary protoliths.
2009 Lavoisier SAS. All rights reserved
Keywords: Greece, Anatolia, subduction, slab tear, anatectic melting

1. Introduction
The Aegean Sea in the eastern Mediterranean is a prime
example of an extending orogen [1-4]. Nearly 250 km of extension have taken place since the Miocene in the present continental back-arc region of the South Aegean Active Volcanic
Arc (SAAVA) via low-angle normal faulting (detachment
faulting) due to southward retreat of the Hellenic subduction
zone [5-8]. Extension has, in turn, promoted granite intrusion

at relatively shallow crustal levels (0.5 GPa) in the time period

between 15 and 9 Ma in many of the Cycladic islands including
those of Serifos, Paros, Naxos, Tinos, Mykonos and Delos,
but also in Ikaria and Samos [8,9 and references therein] (see
Fig. 1a). Syn-extensional granites are eventually exhumed
at the footwall of shallow-dipping detachments which are
commonly rooted at 10-15 km depth [10-12].
Walcott & White [13] deined a boundary between zones
of dominantly NE-SW- and N-S-trending extensional/shear

* Corresponding author.
Tel : +30-210-7274127 Fax: +30-210-7274883 - Mobile: +30-697-2024717
Email address:dikostop@geol.uoa.gr

doi:10.3166/ga.22.189-199 2009 Lavoisier SAS. All rights reserved

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directions in the central Aegean and called it the Mid-Cycladic

Lineament (MCL; Fig. 1b). According to these authors, the
MCL delineates the southeast margin of the West Aegean
Block. It is inferred to extend in a SW-NE direction stretching from the area between Milos and Folegandros through
western Paros to western Ikaria (see Fig. 1b). The widespread
development of WNWESE-trending basins in the Aegean
in the Late MioceneEarly Pliocene was interpreted by
Walcott & White [13] as the period during which the MCL
ceased to be a regionally important kinematics structure,
possibly due to the encroachment of the North Anatolian
Fault. The signiicance of the MCL and the newly developed
(i.e. in the Pliocene) E-W trending faults with regard to the
emplacement of rhyolitic dykes in the Aegean is addressed
in a later section. The depth to the Moho beneath Ikaria is
24-25 km, whereas the crust is typically continental; the
island nowadays lies at a distance of >170 km above the
subducting African plate [14-18].
In this contribution we describe, for the irst time, our
discovery of rare dykes of rhyolitic composition that occur in
the north-western part of Ikaria Island cutting across granitic
country rock. We present the mineralogical, geochemical
and isotopic characteristics of these rocks and evaluate their
petrogenetic history. Where data are available, a comparison
with the rhyolitic dykes of the neighbouring island of Samos
[19], as well as those of the islands of Paros and Antiparos
[20] is also attempted and discussed. We then assess regional
geodynamic implications stemming from this discovery.

2. Geological background
2.1. Geology of Ikaria Island
The island of Ikaria occupies the eastern part of the AtticCycladic Massif in the central Aegean Sea and comprises
three major lithotectonic units [21] which are, from bottom to
top: a) the Ikaria Unit, b) the Messaria Unit and c) the Kefala
Unit. The Ikaria Unit is composed of metapelites (schists
and gneisses), amphibolites and marbles metamorphosed
in upper-greenschist- to mid-ampibolite-facies conditions
(440-620C / 0.5-0.9 GPa) with the degree of metamorphism
decreasing up section [22-24]. The Messaria Unit is composed of marbles, graphitic calcareous schists and phyllites
metamorphosed at greenschist- to blueschist-facies (330C
/ 9-12 GPa) conditions [23]. The Kefala Unit represents a
klippe containing Late Triassic (?) crystalline limestones and
marbles cut by a diorite body of unknown age. Two major
granitic bodies of mid-Miocene age [25, 26] intrude all the
Ikaria lithotectonic units: an I-type, slightly peraluminous,
biotite-granite which is the largest and occupies the western
half of the island and a much smaller, S-type, peraluminous
granite that occurs in the eastern part of the island. The lower
part of the I-type pluton is only weakly deformed whereas
its upper part shows strong deformation with a pervasive
low-angle foliation dipping NW and a stretching lineation

03BaltatzisHD.indd 190

striking NNE-SSW
with a top-to theNNE sense of shear
[9, 10, 24, 26-28].
Further details on
the structures and
kinematics of Ikaria
Island can be found
in Kumerics et al.
[10] and Ring [26].
Significantly, the
latter authors have
published zircon
and apatite issiontrack and apatite
(U-Th)/He ages for
both Ikaria granites
that demonstrate
exhumation of these
plutons to brittle
crust at about 6.03.6 Ma.
2.2. The rhyolitic dykes
Very rare dykes of rhyolitic composition that cut across the
granitic country rock occur in the north-western part of Ikaria
Island near the Nas locality (Fig. 2). The dykes are exceptionally
hard and almost black in colour. No minerals are visible with the
naked eye in hand specimen. Their width varies, ranging from
less than a metre to a couple of metres, but locally may reach
up to 3-4 m. They generally strike NNE-SSW or WSW-ENE.
In this respect it is interesting to note that the Ikaria rhyolitic
dykes are virtually aligned parallel to the MCL but also to the
Early Pliocene E-W trending faults. This, in conjunction with
the above-mentioned granite ission-track and (U-Th)/He ages,
strongly suggests that intrusion of the rhyolitic magma took
place in post-Miocene times, most probably during the Pliocene.
Other Pliocene small volume volcanic centres of rhyodacitic/
rhyolitic composition are known from Crommyonia (Sousaki
locality, 50 km W of Athens; Middle Pliocene; see age compilation in Pe-Piper & Hatzipanagiotou [29]) and Kos Island
(Kefalos peninsula) [30]. The age of the rhyolite lavas from the
islands of Antiparos and probably Paros as well is Early Pliocene
(Zanclean; K-Ar whole-rock ages of non-vesicular vitrophyric
samples; [31]), whereas the age of the Samos rhyolites is Late
Miocene (Tortonian; K-Ar unpublished whole-rock age; see
Pe-Piper & Piper [19]; their Appendix 1, p.520).

3. Mineral and rock chemistry

3.1. Mineral chemistry and thermometry
The Ikaria rhyolitic dykes are composed of sanidine
and quartz phenocrysts and plagioclase microlites set in

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Fig. 1:
a: Plate coniguration in the eastern Mediterranean showing subduction of the African
plate beneath Eurasia along the Hellenic trench. Inset is magniied as Fig. 1b
(after Walcott & White [13], modiied).
b: Map of the central Cyclades showing the inferred trace of the Mid-Cycladic
Lineament (MCL). Asterisks indicate post-Miocene rhyolite localities (Paros, Ikaria).

a dark aphanitic matrix. Allanite, zircon, apatite, Fe-rich

tourmaline and manganoan ilmenite occur as accessories.
Representative mineral analyses are tabulated in Table 1.
Two generations of feldspar were analysed. Early, hightemperature feldspars are rare and comprise distinctly more
calcic K-feldspar (Or0.658Ab0.317An0.025) and potassic plagioclase (Or0.016Ab0.847An0.137). Late, low-T feldspars comprise
nearly pure sanidine (Or0.932Ab0.065An0.003) and oligoclase
(Or0.008Ab0.792An0.200). Two-feldspar thermometry [32] suggests
initial temperatures of 820C at assumed mid-crustal pressures
of 0.5 GPa (early feldspars), and subsequent cooling down to
568C at atmospheric pressure (late feldspars). Tourmaline is
marginally schrl (to dravite). In the Al-Fe(tot)-Mg ternary
diagram of Henry & Guidotti [33] (not shown) it plots at the
boundary between the ields of Li-poor granitoids and highAl metapelites and metapsammites. This might be taken to
indicate an origin for the rhyolites via melting of quartzofeldspathic sedimentary mid-crustal protoliths. The opaque phase
is manganoan ilmenite which is typical of acidic magmas
of rhyodacitic / rhyolitic composition. It should be noted
here that hydrous phases are completely absent in the Ikaria
dykes. This comes into contrast with their Paros-Antiparos
counterparts that contain biotite [20].

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191

3.2. Geochemical and isotopic

characteristics - Petrogenesis

A representative, complete list of majorand trace-element abundances and Nd- and

Sr-isotope ratios for the Ikaria rhyolitic
dykes is shown as Table 2. In the wellknown discrimination diagrams of silica
vs. potash and vs. total alkalis (not shown)
(see Le Maitre [34]), the rocks classify as
high-K calc-alkaline rhyolites. However,
they are markedly less potassic than the
Samos (Ambelos complex) rhyolite [19]
and the Paros and Antiparos rhyolitic dykes
[20]. They are also characterised by low
loss-on-ignition values which, coupled with
the afore-mentioned complete absence of
hydrous phases suggest a considerably H2Oundersaturated magma.
On the Th/Yb vs. Ta/Yb and Th/Ta
vs. Yb tectonodiscriminant diagrams of
Gorton & Schandl [35] designed speciically for felsic to intermediate volcanic
rocks (not shown) the Ikaria rhyolite dykes
plot in the ield of active continental margin lavas, near the boundary with withinplate volcanic zones.
Chondrite-normalised rare-earth element profiles for rhyolitic rocks from
Ikaria, Samos, Paros and Antiparos are
shown in Fig. 3. The Ikaria dykes are
characterised by dish-shaped patterns
suggesting that the rhyolite melt was not
in equilibrium with HREE-retaining phases at the source and/
or that previous fractionation of HREE-incompatible phases
took place (sanidine, plagioclase, quartz, ilmenite: [36];
allanite, apatite: [37]). On the other hand, residual pyroxene
during melting would have ensured LREE enrichment of the
produced rhyolite melt. The Eu anomaly is not so pronounced,
indicating relatively moderate fO2 conditions during melt
crystallisation (see McKay [38]). By contrast, the Samos
rhyolite displays no detectable Eu anomaly thus signifying
much higher oxidation states while the melt was evolving.
N-MORB-normalised multi-element proiles for rhyolitic
rocks from Ikaria, Samos, Paros and Antiparos are shown
in Fig. 4a. To facilitate comparisons, the average values for
upper continental crust are shown in Fig. 4b.
As can be seen from Fig. 4a, all proiles resemble those
of calc-alkaline rocks of acidic composition. In detail, the
pattern for Ikaria shows small negative Ba, P and Ti anomalies
consistent with only small amounts of previous K-feldspar,
apatite and FeTi-oxide fractionation. By contrast, the pattern for Samos is characterised by much more pronounced
negative Ba, P and Ti anomalies which is consistent with
substantial removal of K-feldspars+apatite+FeTi-oxides from
the Samos rhyolitic magma before eruption. A comparison of

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Table 1: Representative mineral compositions of the Ikaria rhyolitic dykes

Mineral
Comment
SiO2
TiO2
Al2O3
FeO
MnO
MgO
CaO
Na2O
K2O
P2O5
Cr2O3
V2O3
Total
Mineral
SiO2
TiO2
Al2O3
FeO
MnO
MgO
CaO
Na2O
K2O
P2O5
Cr2O3
V2O3
Total

K-feldspar

Plagioclase

K-feldspar

Plagioclase

High-T
65.85

High-T
62.24

Low-T
64.69

Low-T
63.97

19.23

24.45

18.19
0.04

22.23
0.03

0.49
3.44
10.87

2.88
9.83
0.28

0.75
15.70

4.11
9.00
0.13

99.88
Tourmaline
36.23
0.98
31.31
10.14
0.13
5.16
0.84
1.91
0.04
0.01
0.01
0.04
86.81

99.68
Apatite
0.40

99.38
Allanite
33.95
0.16
18.45
10.22
1.14
0.17
13.03
0.06
0.19

99.47
Ilmenite
0.10
52.95
0.04
39.41
6.64
0.01
0.03
0.04
0.06

0.26
0.06
77.70

0.04
0.40
99.72

0.03
0.06
0.37
54.98
0.07
0.12
42.94
0.05
0.04
99.06

the geochemical characteristics of the Ikaria and the nearby

Samos rhyolites as they are depicted in Figs. 3 and 4a leads
to the conclusion that the Samos magma chamber was in a
relatively shallower position so as to allow rapid degassing
and attendant fractionation of the rhyolitic magma before it
gained access to the surface.
Fig. 4b shows a comparison of the geochemical compositions between the Ikaria rhyolitic dykes and average upper
continental crust. The great similarity between the two patterns adds extra credibility to the inference made earlier that
the dykes represent upper crustal melts.
Fig. 5 portrays the isotopic composition of the Ikaria rhyolites
in the Nd-Sr space using the epsilon notation for Nd, calculated
at t=0. It becomes immediately evident from Fig. 5 that the
slightly more radiogenic Nd and distinctly less radiogenic Sr
isotopic composition of the Ikaria rhyolite dykes compared to
that of the granites of the island suggests that different protoliths
were involved in the genesis of the dykes. It is also evident
from Fig. 5 that sediments from the East Mediterranean Sea,
including input from the Nile, entering the Hellenic trench are
unsuitable candidates for the crustal end-member of the Ikaria
rhyolites. The same holds true for recent marine sediments from
the worlds major ocean basins, with only few terrigenous compositions showing an isotopic match. Cycladic-type basement
acid orthogneisses, with few exceptions, were also probably not
the source rocks for the Ikaria dykes as they have developed

03BaltatzisHD.indd 192

highly radiogenic Sr
isotopic compositions.
When compared to
XRF
LA-ICP-MS
acid volcanics (dacites/rhyolites) from
73.15
Rb
219
SiO2
Late Miocene to
TiO2
0.2
Sr
140
Pleistocene erupAl2O3
13.88
Y
47
tive centres from the
SAAVA and the nearby
1.37
Zr
65
Fe2O3
island of Samos and
MnO
0.03
Nb
12.3
the coast of W Turkey,
MgO
0.32
Ba
355
the Ikaria rhyolites
CaO
1.42
La
16.1
display a signiicantly
lesser contribution
3.46
Ce
30.6
Na2O
from asthenospheric
3.92
Pr
3.58
K2O
sources (notice the
0.06
Nd
13.0
P2O5
position of Late
Miocene high-K
LOI
0.7
Sm
3.23
basalts from Samos
Sum
98.50
Eu
0.437
and Bodrum, and of
Gd
3.30
Quaternary, purely
XRF
Tb
0.615
asthenospheric alkaline basalts from
Sc
3
Dy
5.03
Kula). Mixing modV
10
Ho
1.41
elling of the Sr-Nd
Cr
11
Er
4.94
isotopic space requires
a low-Sr quartzofeldCo
20
Tm
0.850
spathic crustal endNi
4
Yb
5.04
m e m b e r, s i m i l a r
Cu
1
Lu
0.857
to basement trondZn
26
Hf
2.29
hjemites from Naxos
[46] or to non-exposed
Ga
17
Ta
2.18
mid-crustal greyPb
65
wackes that has conTh
18.2
tributed about 90 % to
the total rhyolite melt
U
6.80
(Depleted MORB
TIMS
Mantle end-member
from Workman &
87Sr/86Sr
0.70844010
Hart [51]). The highly
143Nd/144Nd
negative Nd, 0 value
0.51223510
(-7.86) calculated for
the dykes leaves little
doubt as to an origin through melting of crustal lithologies with
hardly detectable contributions from the mantle. Pe-Piper &
Piper [30] reached a similar conclusion for the Crommyonia
lavas which, however, like the Antiparos rhyolites, contain a
lot more radiogenic Sr.
Harvey et al. [52] produced granitic melt compositions by
experimentally-induced partial melting of low-K greywackes
with 10 wt.% tourmaline added at P-T conditions in the range
0.1-0.4 GPa and 750-900C respectively. Their melts plot close
to the appropriate minima in the system Qtz-Ab-Or, while the
residual crystalline phases were all K-free. These authors stressed
the importance of tourmaline for the process of anatectic melting. Spicer et al. [53] generated granitic liquids in partial meltTable 2: Representative chemical analysis
of the Ikaria rhyolitic dykes (major elements
in wt.%; trace elements in ppm).

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Fig. 2: Simpliied geological map of Ikaria Island. Inset: rhyolite dyke (dark grey) cutting across granite
(light grey) at Nas cove locality.

between 850 and 900C and pressures around 0.5-0.6 GPa.

Annen et al. [55] developed a
model in which basalt emplacement into the lower crust leads to
generation of intermediate and silicic melts both by partial crystallisation of the basalts themselves
and by partial melting of surrounding crustal rocks through heat and
H2O transfer from the cooling
basalts. According to their model
and given the age and small volume of rhyolitic magma erupted as
well as the paucity of more basic
lavas accompanying the rhyolites
in Ikaria and Paros a geodynamic
setting is proposed (see also ensuing section) whereby basaltic sills
were injected at depths 20 km
at rates of 2-5 mm/yr; no more
than 100 sills of 50 m thickness
each were emplaced, while the
incubation times were of the order
of 1-3 Ma.

4. Geodynamic considerations
The Tethyan belt embraces active
subduction and back-arc basin opening,
ongoing plate collisions, remnant orogens,
and widespread intraplate magmatism.
Faccenna et al. [56] have recently suggested that there was a continuous, possibly oceanic, subducting slab extending
from the Hellenic trench to the Bitlis suture
zone in SE Turkey. This slab preserved
its integrity beneath the Hellenic arc,
where it can be imaged all the way from
the trench down to the mantle transition
zone, but not beneath central and eastern
Anatolia, where it was ruptured because
Fig. 3: Chondrite-normalised REE proiles for rhyolitic dykes from Ikaria (this study), Samos ([19]),
Paros ([20]) and Antiparos ([31]) islands. Chondrite values from Boynton [63].
of the arrival at the trench of the Arabian
continental block. Slab tear occurred in
ing experiments using tourmaline-bearing biotite-muscovite
the Middle-Late Miocene and the transition between continuous
metapelites at 800-1000C and 0.32 GPa. They observed that
(Hellenic) versus ruptured (Bitlis) slab can be approximately
biotite and tourmaline disappear at temperatures higher than
identiied between Rhodes and Cyprus. Quoting Faccenna et al.
about 800-850C by which stage the experimental melts become
[56]: the slab beneath the Bitlis collisional belt is not continuous
B-rich. In view of the above arguments we propose that the
and its possible rupture pursues to the west at least up to Cyprus
most suitable sources for the Ikaria rhyolite dykes were low-Sr,
and possibly up to the eastern end of the Hellenic trench. The
B-bearing, mid-crustal quartzofeldspathic/pelitic lithologies
lateral (westward) displacement of asthenospheric mantle followsuch as tourmaline greywackes/pelites. Importantly, the overing formation of the slab window brought about kinematically
all elemental and isotopic composition of the Ikaria granites
mismatched continental escape [57], and widespread, non[9, 25, 54] also points towards an origin via dehydration melting
plume intracontinental magmatism [58]. A similar model was
of mature metagreywackes. Melting took place at temperatures
proposed by de Boorder et al. [59] who observed that the slab

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Fig. 4a: N-MORB-normalised multi-element proiles for rhyolitic dykes from Ikaria, Samos, Paros and Antiparos islands. Sources of data as in Fig. 3.
N-MORB values from Sun & McDonough [64].

Minor boundary is the one most

inluenced by the invasion of hot
asthenosphere.
With regard to kinematically
mismatched continental escape,
Doglioni et al. [57] have shown
differential convergence rates
between the northeastwardsubducting African plate and
blocks in the Eurasian lithosphere
hangingwall; they ascribed the
observed differences in velocity
to differential decoupling with the
asthenosphere. Speciically, the
faster southwestward advancement of Greece and the Aegean
over Africa with respect to that of
Cyprus and Anatolia over Africa
resulted in the development of
a broad, ~N-S-trending zone of
Fig. 4b: N-MORB-normalised multi-element proiles for the Ikaria rhyolite dykes (this study) and average Upper
NNE-SSW-directed extension
Continental Crust (UCC). UCC values from Rudnick & Gao [65]; see also McLennan [66].
along the eastern Aegean from
Thassos Island through Ikaria
tomographic P-wave anomalies below the Aegean and Anatolia
to Rhodes (Fig. 6), where stretching is being accommodated
(at the longitude of the Menderes Massif) are separated at depth
by a system of E-W-trending grabens.
by a conspicuous low velocity zone (their Figs. 3, 248-km panel,
Decompression melting of risen and laterally displaced
and 4c). They interpreted this zone as the result of inlow of hot
asthenosphere along the above-mentioned eastern Aegean
material from the Aegean mantle wedge due to a vertical rupture
extension zone resulted in the formation of basaltic magmas
in the subducted slab. In both geodynamic models described
that underplated and penetrated stretched continental crust at
above, the region straddling the eastern Aegean western Asia
variable depths thus inducing melting of crustal lithologies and

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195

Fig. 5: Nd vs. 87Sr/86Sr for Neogene volcanic rocks from the south-eastern Aegean and western Turkey as well as for Cycladic Permo-Carboniferous basement acid orthogneisses and Miocene granitoids. Also shown are the compositions of recent sediments from the worlds major ocean basins and the eastern
Mediterranean Sea. Nd values have been calculated at t=0. See text for discussion and petrogenetic interpretations.
Symbols: Filled circles: Cycladic granites (Miocene); Open circles (large): Cycladic basement acid orthogneisses (Permo-Carboniferous); Open triangles:
Santorini dacites & rhyolites (Pleistocene <200 Ka); Open diamonds: Milos dacites & rhyolites (Pliocene); Xs: Nisyros/Yali dacites and rhyolites
(Pleistocene <200 Ka); Crosses: W. Turkey dacites and rhyolites (Late Miocene); Filled diamonds: Kula (W. Turkey) alkaline basalts (Quaternary); Open
circles (small): Samos-Bodrum (W. Turkey) high-K basalts (Late Miocene); Open dashes: Modern marine sediments (Paciic, Atlantic & Indian Oceans);
Filled triangles: East Mediterranean surface sediments; Light grey vertical line with solid horizontal bars: Antiparos rhyolites (Early Pliocene); Dark grey
vertical line: Crommyonia (Sousaki) rhyodacites (Middle Pliocene). A Middle Pliocene rhyodacite from Kos has 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7042 but no measured Nd
isotopes. Samos rhyolites are characterised by 0.7059<87Sr/86Sr <0.7072 and -6.2< Nd <-4.3. Solid line with tic marks is isotope mixing line between
DMM and a low-Sr quartzofeldspathic crustal end-member, similar to basement trondhjemites from Naxos. Tic mark on the mixing line next to the Ikaria
rhyolite represents 90 % of the crustal end-member.
Data sources: post-Miocene acid eruptive rocks (dacites to rhyolites): from the SAAVA (Crommyonia/Sousaki [39, 29], Milos [40], Santorini [40, 41], Kos
[42] and Nisyros/Yali [43, 44]), as well as from Antiparos [31], Samos [19] and W. Turkey [45]; Permo-Carboniferous Cycladic basement acid orthogneisses: [46]; Miocene Cycladic granites: [9]; Modern marine sediments from the Paciic, Atlantic and Indian Oceans: [47]; Surface sediments from the Eastern
Mediterranean Sea (including input from the River Nile) that enter the subduction zone at the Hellenic Trench: [48]; Late Miocene high-K basalts from
Samos and W. Turkey: [49]; Quaternary alkaline (OIB-like) basalts from W. Turkey: [50].

leading to the extrusion in the area of bimodal compositions

from Middle-Late Miocene onwards. In the case of Ikaria,
basaltic sills intruded at depths of about 20 km during the
Pliocene and brought about virtually anhydrous melting of
low-Sr and low- 87Sr/86Sr tourmaline greywackes within 1-3
Ma of intrusion. The so-produced rhyolitic melts escaped
towards the surface via E-W-trending extensional grabens
or faults parallel to the direction of the MCL. The similarly
aged Paros/Antiparos rhyolite dykes, the strike of which
duplicates that of the MCL, are assigned a similar origin,
although in this case the source rocks are high- 87Sr/86Sr
biotite metagranites of the Cycladic crystalline basement (see
Fig. 1). This also implies lateral spread of asthenosphere as
west as the midpoint of the SAAVA.
As a inal note it is interesting that Kumerics et al. [10]

03BaltatzisHD.indd 195

reported the intrusion of tourmaline pegmatites with a minimum crystallisation age of 458 Ma into the metasedimentary
sequence of the Ikaria Unit. Such rocks, which might be related
to the c. 550 Ma Menderes magmatic event, are potential
candidates to generate the Ikaria rhyolite dykes. A further
implication that stems from this is that the Ikaria Unit would
have been derived from Anatolia [60].

5. Summary and conclusions

We have discovered rare outcrops of dykes of rhyolitic
composition on Ikaria Island in the Aegean back-arc region.
Their age has not been determined directly but they intrude a
Miocene I-type biotite-granite that was exhumed to brittle crust

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Emmanuel Baltatzis et al. / Geodinamica Acta 22/4 (2009) 189-199

Fig. 6: Geodynamic reconstruction of the eastern Mediterranean showing extension between the Aegean and Anatolian plates (thick grey dashes) caused by
differential convergence rates between subducting Africa and Eurasia, with the Aegean lithosphere overriding Africa faster than the Anatolian lithosphere
(after Doglioni et al. [57], modiied).

between 6.0 and 3.6 Ma ago suggesting dyke emplacement in

the Pliocene. Sanidine, plagioclase and quartz are the dominant
mineral phases; no hydrous Fe-Mg phases are observed and
the only volatile-bearing phase is Fe-rich tourmaline in minor
proportions. Low L.O.I. values indicate a nearly anhydrous
acidic magma. Two-feldspar thermometry suggests initial
temperatures of 820C at mid-crustal pressures of 0.5 GPa,
and subsequent cooling down to 570C at atmospheric pressure. Chondrite-normalised REE patterns are dish-shaped
showing a moderate enrichment in both LREE and HREE over
the MREE. The Eu anomaly is not so pronounced, indicating
relatively moderate fO2 conditions during melt crystallisation.
N-MORB-normalised multi-element proiles show small
negative Ba, P and Ti anomalies consistent with only small
amounts of previous K-feldspar, apatite and FeTi-oxide fractionation. When compared to the Ikaria rhyolites described
here, the nearby Samos rhyolites are characterised by much
more pronounced negative Ba, P and Ti anomalies with no
accompanying negative Eu anomaly, which is consistent with
substantial removal of K-feldspars+apatite+FeTi-oxides from
the Samos rhyolitic magma before eruption at considerably
more oxidising conditions. This might be taken to indicate
that the Samos magma chamber was in a shallower position
so as to allow rapid degassing and attendant fractionation of
the rhyolitic magma before it gained access to the surface.
The overall geochemical patterns of the Ikaria rhyolites
strongly resemble those of continental crust which, in conjunction with the strongly negative Nd values (-7.9), are highly

03BaltatzisHD.indd 196

indicative of an origin through melting of crustal lithologies

(tourmaline greywackes) with no detectable contribution from
asthenospheric sources. Strontium isotope ratios are relatively
low (87Sr/86Sr = 0.708440), unlike values for sediments entering
the Hellenic trench but similar to those for certain Miocene
Cycladic I-type granites and low-Rb Permo-Carboniferous
Cycladic basement acid orthogneisses. Crust-mantle Sr-Nd
isotopic mixing modelling also requires a low-Sr crustal endmember. The presence of Pliocene rhyolitic volcanism in the
Aegean back-arc region in places distant from any possible
subduction zone inluence is attributed to slab tear at the eastern
end of the Hellenic trench and attendant entrance and lateral
displacement of asthenosphere through the thus formed slab
window that, in turn, brought about kinematically mismatched
continental escape in the subduction hangingwall. Extension
along the boundary between the differentially moving Aegean
and Anatolian blocks caused the intrusion of basaltic sills at
middle crustal levels and the formation of acid anatectic melts
from low-Sr, B-bearing quartzofeldspathic metasedimentary
protoliths.

Acknowledgements
Marcus Engel has generously supplied Sr and Nd isotopic
data for basement ortho- and paragneisses from the Cyclades
and Alex Hannappel provided whole-rock and mineral analyses
of the rhyolite dykes of Paros and Antiparos. Fruitful discus-

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sions with Thomas Reischmann are much appreciated. We

are indebted to our colleagues Jean-Pierre Brun and Michel
Ballvre for translating the abstract into French. The constructive review by Uwe Ring helped clarify the geodymanic
issue. Expert editorial handling by Jean Van Den Driessche
speeded up publication procedure.

Appendix. Analytical techniques

Electron-probe microanalyses of the mineral constituents of
the Ikaria rhyolitic dykes were performed using a JEOL JXA
8900 RL Superprobe equipped with ive wavelength-dispersive
spectrometers at the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz.
For elemental analyses, the samples were crushed, carefully
hand-picked and washed in an ultrasonic bath with distilled
water before powdered in an agate mill. Loss on ignition
was calculated on 2 gr of powdered sample after incremental
heating to 1000oC. Whole-rock analyses for major and trace
elements were performed using a Philips Magic X PRO
spectrometer based on the principles of X-ray luorescence.
The measurement conditions are described on the webpage of
the laboratory (http://www.uni-mainz.de/FB/Geo/Geologie/
EMSRFA/RFA.html).
Further trace-element analyses were carried out in the
department of geochemistry at the Max Plank Institute for
Chemistry, Mainz, using a Finnigan Element 2 high-resolution
single-collector ICP-MS in conjunction with a laser ablation
facility (213 nm Merchantek). The samples were melted on an
iridium stripe by applying high current of 120 A for 20 s, and

197

cooled down using Ar gas. The amount of sample used was

40 mg. Three spot analyses per sample were made on each
fused disc. The instrument was calibrated against NIST612
using the reference values proposed by Jochum et al. [61].
43Ca isotope was used as the internal standard, based on the
CaO concentration determined by XRF. The spot size was 20
m and the counting time was 30 s for the blank-background
and 80 s for the sample analyses.
For whole-rock Sr- and Nd-isotope composition analyses, 50
mgr of powdered sample was weighed in a Savillex screw-cap
beaker and left for one day to be digested with HF at room temperature. The HF was then evaporated and digestion continued
by adding small amounts of HF and HClO4 and leaving the
solution to evaporate on a hot plate. The inal dissolution was
achieved by adding 5 ml of 6N 2* HCl and then evaporating it.
Before the separation of Sr and Nd, the sample was dissolved
in 1.2 ml of 2.5N 2* HCl and then centrifuged.
Strontium and REE were chromatographically separated
using 5 ml cation-exchange resin columns, following standard
procedures [62], including a second clean-up step for Sr using
1 ml resin columns. Neodymium was collected from the REE
fraction with HDHP-coated Telon columns. 200 ngr of Sr
was loaded with TaF2 on W ilaments, whereas Re ilaments
in double coniguration were used for Nd measurements.
Isotopes were measured with a Finnigan MAT261 thermal
ionisation mass spectrometer (TIMS) in multicollector mode.
Mass fractionations were corrected to 146Nd/144Nd=0.7210
and 86Sr/88Sr=0.1194. International standards were also measured over the period of measurements. For La Jolla, the
measured 143Nd/144Nd ratio was 0.5118199 (n=16), whereas
for NIST SRM 987 (formerly NBS 987) an 87Sr/86Sr ratio of
0.71023412 (n=16) was obtained.

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