The Rhodope Zone as a primary sediment source of the southern Thrace basin (NE Greece and NW Turkey): evidence from detrital heavy minerals and implications for central-eastern Mediterranean palaeogeography

Detrital heavy mineral analysis coupled with a regional geological review provide key elements to re-evaluate the distribution of the Rhodope metamorphic zone (SE Europe) in the region and its role in determining the evolution of the Thrace basin. We focus on the Eocene–Oligocene sedimentary successions exposed in the southern Thrace basin margin to determine the dispersal pathways of eroded crustal elements, of both oceanic and continental origins, as well as their different contributions through time. Lithological aspects and tectonic data coupled with geochemistry and geochronology of metamorphic terranes exposed in the area point to a common origin of tectonic units exposed in NW Turkey (Biga Peninsula) with those of NE Greece and SE Bulgaria (Rhodope region). The entire region displays (1) common extensional signatures, consisting of comparable granitoid intrusion ages, and a NE-SW sense of shear (2) matching zircon age populations between the metapelitic and metamafic rocks of the Circum-Rhodope Belt (NE Greece) and those of the Camlica–Kemer complex and Cetmi melange exposed in NW Turkey. Detrital heavy mineral abundances from Eocene–Oligocene sandstones of the southern Thrace basin demonstrate the influence of two main sediment sources mostly of ultramafic/ophiolitic and low- to medium-grade metamorphic lithologies, plus a third, volcanic source limited to the late Eocene–Oligocene. Detrital Cr-spinel chemistry is used to understand the origin of the ultramafic material and to discriminate the numerous ultramafic sources exposed in the region. Compositional and stratigraphic data indicate a major influence of the metapelitic source in the eastern part (Gallipoli Peninsula) during the initial stages of sedimentation with increasing contributions from metamafic sources through time. On the other hand, the western and more external part of the southern Thrace margin (Gokceada, Samothraki and Limnos) displays compositional signatures according to a mixed provenance from the metapelitic and metamafic sources of the Circum-Rhodope Belt (Camlica–Kemer complex and Cetmi melange). Tectonic restoration and compositional signatures provide constraints on the Palaeogene palaeogeography of this sector of the central-eastern Mediterranean region.