Petrography and mineral chemistry of the Eocene granodiorites in the Toveireh area (Southwest of Jandaq, Isfahan province)

Granitoids are the most common igneous rocks that are found in all parts of the continental crust and play an important role in the formation and evolution of the Earth’s continental crust (Clarke, 1992). Granitoid plutons contain useful information on factors and processes related to their generation and differentiation (Castro, 2013). The wide range of sources and processes that may be involved in the formation of granitoids is reflected in their compositional range. Although yet there is a long way to achieve a consensus about the origin of granite, different interpretations of the geochemical granitoid data represents geological understanding of the complexities of these rocks. Large parts of Iran and Central - East Iranian Microcontinent (CEIM) structural zone have suffered from the Eocene granitoid magmatism. Toveireh granitoid intrusive body cropped out in the southwest of the Jandaq city (NE of Isfahan Province) and is one of the Eocene granitoid bodies. It is hoped that this mineralogical and petrological research will be useful in understanding the nature of Eocene acidic magmatism of Central Iran. Material and methods: Chemical analyses of minerals in the Toveireh granodiorites were carried out by a JEOL JXA- 8800R (WDS) electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) at the Cooperative Center of Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan. The analyses were performed under an accelerating voltage of 20 kV and a beam current of 20 nA with a counting time limit of 40 seconds. Natural minerals and synthetic materials were used as standards. The ZAF program was used for data correction. The amounts of Fe2+ and Fe3+ contents of minerals were estimated by assuming ideal mineral stoichiometry in structural formula. Mineral abbreviations in petrographic photomicrographs and tables are taken from Whitney and Evans (2010). Petrographic studies show that the Middle Eocene Toveireh granitoid intrusive consists of granodiorite and granite. Granodiorites are coarse grained, mesocratic and have microgranular mafic enclaves in hand specimen. They are composed of plagioclase, amphibole, quartz, orthoclase and biotite. Accessory minerals are zircon, apatite, sphene and magnetite. Chlorite, actinolite, epidote and sericite are present as the secondary minerals. In the study area, the most dominant texture of the granodiorites are granular but graphic, perthite, anti-perthite, anti-rapakivi textures are common. The plagioclase (An0.8-48) occurs mainly as medium to coarse grains, subhedral, with zoning and polysynthetic twinning that represent varying degrees of saussuritization. Quartz occurs commonly as medium to fine anhedral grains. Graphic texture intergrowths of quartz and feldspars are present. Graphic texture possibly indicate rapid and simultaneous crystallization of quartz and K–feldspar from an under-cooled liquid at shallow depths (Clarke, 1992; Barker, 1983). Hornblende is present as subhedral to anhedral grains and in some cases partly altered to chlorite and actinolite. Biotites are subhedral and sometimes altered to chlorite, titanite and epidote. Based on mineral chemistry data, amphiboles in the investigated plutons are calcic in composition and classify as magnesio-hornblende and actinolite. Amphiboles are characterized by Mg# 0.67 to 0.47 and present geochemical features of subduction zone-related amphiboles. Biotite is characterized by variable and high Fe contents, with Fe# [Fe2+/(Fe2+ + Mg)] ratios between 0.52 to 0.60. Using the nomenclature scheme of Foster (1960), they are Mg-biotite, and have composition range of the calc-alkaline granites among the different granitoid suites in discriminative trend defined by Abdel-Rahman (1994). Chlorites are brunsvigite in composition and have negligible K2O and TiO2 but show similar Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios with amphibole and biotite. Therefore, it can be concluded that they are alteration products of mafic minerals. Chlorite alteration temperature is estimated to be 245 to 262°C from chlorite geothermometry. The chemistry of hornblende and biotite imply that Toveireh granodiorites have I-Type nature and are products of crust-mantle, mixed-source magma crystallization. Barometry calculations of amphiboles indicate that these rocks were emplaced at an average pressure of 1- 1.5 kbars corresponding to approximately 3.5-6 Km depth. Plagioclase-amphibole and biotite thermometry suggests an equilibrium temperature of 700 to 800°C. Estimation of Oxygen fugacity by Fe# of amphibole and biotite indicate high value of Oxygen fugacity (+1< ΔFQM < +2.0) and suggest that the Toveireh granitoids belong to the magnetite-series of granites. Petrography and mineral chemistry of the studied rocks indicated their subduction-related tectonic setting. Acknowledgments: The authors thank the University of Isfahan and Kanazawa University for financial supports and laboratory facilities.