Gabbroic-dioritic dykes from the Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone: windows on Jurassic and Eocene geodynamic processes in the Zagros Orogen, western Iran

The Sanandaj–Sirjan Zone (SaSiZ) is a magmatic terrane within the Zagros Orogen, western Iran, marking the Tethyan suture zone between the Afro–Arabian Plate and the Central Iran Micro–Continent. Mafic-intermediate dyke swarms with Middle Jurassic (Group–1: hornblende gabbro and diorite) and Late Eocene (Group–2: hornblende-pyroxene gabbro) ages are recognized in the Malayer-Boroujerd Plutonic Complex of the northern SaSiZ. Group–1 dykes have elemental and isotopic signatures consistent with melting of a mantle source modified during Neo–Tethyan subduction. Some Group–1 magmas evolved to intermediate compositions through assimilation and fractional crystallization. Group–2 dykes have within-plate trace element geochemical signatures, modelled as deriving from low-degree melting of asthenospheric mantle without a subduction influence. Published models postulate either a Cretaceous–Eocene Neo–Tethyan flat-slab scenario, or a Latest Cretaceous–Palaeogene Neo–Tethyan break-off event beneath the SaSiZ. Such models do not reconcile with the Late Eocene presence of within-plate magmatism in westernmost Iran, very close to the Zagros Suture. We argue that a period of flat-slab subduction concluded with sub-parallel subduction of a Neo–Tethyan ridge to the trench. The resulting slab break-off event in the Late Eocene is responsible for generation of the distinct Mesopotamia and Zagros slabs in mantle tomography models. Break-off was followed by small volume within-plate type magmatism before short-lived re-establishment of Tethyan subduction prior to the final Arabia–Eurasia collision.