Dynamics of episodic Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic magmatism across Central to Eastern Anatolia: New insights from an extensive geochronology compilation

We compiled geochronology data from 87 published studies within the Anatolia orogen (32.5°E-44°E) to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of continental magmatism during the final stages of Neotethys Ocean closure. The number and diversity of studies compiled here collectively provide a thorough characterization of magmatism ( > 700 ages) in the Anatolia orogen since the Late Cretaceous (ca. 100 Ma). Our new compilation reveals that magmatism was episodic and occurred in three distinct magmatic episodes punctuated by two orogen-wide magmatic lulls. We used regional-scale insights into the timing, location, composition, and evolution of magmatism revealed by our compilation to evaluate the tectonic and geodynamic processes responsible for each widespread magmatic lull, and to test and refine existing geodynamic models for Anatolia. We interpret the first orogen-wide magmatic lull (ca. 72-58 Ma) to have been the result of Maastrichtian to Paleocene collision of the Kirşehir and Anatolide-Tauride blocks with the Pontides arc along the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone and synchronous collision of the Bitlis-Pütürge massif with the southern-margin of the Anatolide-Tauride blocks along the Bitlis suture zone. Magmatic quiescence during the second magmatic lull (ca. 40-20 Ma) was variably related to terminal subduction and Arabia slab break off along the Bitlis suture zone in the east, and Cyprus slab flattening due to postcollisional southward retreat of the Cyprus trench in the west, each triggered by middle to late Eocene Arabia collision. Postcollisional Neogene-Quaternary magmatism was most likely caused by lithospheric delamination and slab tearing/rollback in the Eastern and Central Anatolia volcanic provinces, respectively.