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Triassic rift-related meta-granites in the Internal Hellenides, Greece

F. HIMMERKUS^*,,, T. REISCHMANN, and D. KOSTOPOULOS

^* Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Becherweg 21, Mainz 55099, Germany
Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Abteilung Geochemie, Mainz 55128, Germany
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of Geology and GeoEnvironment, Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, Panepistimioupoli, Zographou, Athens 15784, Greece

Author for correspondence: Felix.Himmerkus{at}hdb.fzk.de

The Serbo-Macedonian Massif is a basement complex in the Internal Hellenides of northern Greece, situated between the Vardar Zone to the west and the Rhodope Massif to the east. The Serbo-Macedonian Massif comprises several distinct basement units interpreted as terranes, the largest of which is the Gondwana-derived Vertiskos Terrane in the northwestern and central parts of the massif. A series of leucocratic meta-granites intrude the Silurian orthogneiss basement of the Vertiskos Terrane. No similar granites are found in any of the other units of the Internal Hellenides. The meta-granites have a pronounced crustal within-plate signature which is visible in lithology, major- and trace-element geochemistry and the Sr isotopic compositions. These intrusions were dated using the Pb–Pb single-zircon evaporation method, and yielded a Triassic age of between 240.7 ± 2.6 Ma and 221.7 ± 1.9 Ma on 17 samples, with a mean age of 228.3 ± 5.6 Ma. The zircons are purely magmatic, indicating that ages are primary crystallization ages. A Rb–Sr errorchron of the whole-rock samples of the Arnea granite yielded an age of 231.6 ± 9.9 Ma (MSWD = 82), and a mean ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr initial ratio is 0.7142, indicating a crust-dominated source, and suggesting an A-type origin for the granites. The A-type meta-granites together with mafic intrusive bodies (amphibolites) in the Vertiskos Terrane may be evidence of Triassic rifting that led to the formation of a branch of Neotethys (Vardar–Meliata Ocean). Similar rock associations are also exposed in the Cyclades, and in massifs of the wider eastern Mediterranean realm related to the Gondwana-derived Hun Terrane, indicating that the Arnea-type granites are representatives of a major regional rifting event in Triassic times.

Key Words: Triassic rifting • Hellenides • A-type magmatism • Gondwana-derived terranes • geochronology • Serbo-Macedonian Massif