Determination of magma fertility indicators for porphyry systems in Western Anatolia and Central Taurides

Date

2025-8-25

Author

Çil, Akın

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Porphyry systems are closely associated with magmatism in arc, back-arc, and post-collisional settings. Arc-related porphyries are typically Cu-rich, whereas back-arc and post-collisional settings more commonly host Au-rich porphyry deposits. Magma oxidation state, water content, and volatile budget are key parameters that enhance the fertility of arc or post-collisional magmas in terms of porphyry formation since fertile magmas are generally oxidized, hydrous, and enriched in volatiles such as S, Cl, and F. Although whole-rock geochemistry has been widely applied in fertility assessment, the use of precise mineral geochemistry has gained popularity for understanding magmatic controls on porphyry deposit formation. This study investigates Late Cenozoic back-arc and post-collisional magmatism in Western Anatolia and the Central Taurides, segments of the Neotethyan orogenic belt that experienced prolonged Oligo–Miocene to Quaternary magmatism with a progressive southward-younging trend. The region hosts significant porphyry systems within intermediate to felsic intrusions of high-K calc-alkaline to mildly alkaline affinity. A multi-proxy approach, combining zircon U–Pb dating with zircon and apatite trace element analyses, demonstrates that fertile magmas are characterized by elevated Eu/Eu*, Ybn/Dyn, and ∆FMQ in zircon, and positive Eu/Eu* and Cl contents in apatite. By contrast, whole-rock fertility proxies such as Sr/Y and La/Yb fail to distinguish fertile from barren systems, emphasizing the robustness of mineral-scale indicators. Overall, this study establishes zircon and apatite geochemistry as reliable tools to evaluate magma fertility in Anatolia and provides insights applicable to other post-collisional segments of the Tethyan metallogenic belt.

Subject Keywords

Porphyry Systems, Magma Fertility, Zircon and Apatite Geochemistry, Late Cenozoic Magmatism, Western Anatolia and Central Taurides

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/116148

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis