Abstract The Greater Caucasus mountains (Cavcasioni) mark the northern margin of Arabia–Eurasia collision zone. Magmatism in central part began Pleistocene, up to ~25 Myr after initial collision. This paper presents bulk-rock and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope geochemistry from 39 Quaternary volcanic rock samples (<450 Ka) recovered Mt. Kazbek (Kasbegui) region Caucasus, Georgia, assess sources magmat...

Magmatism, ore genesis and metamorphism are commonly associated processes that define fundamental features of the Earth’s crustal evolution from earliest Precambrian to Phanerozoic [...]

Carbonatite volcanism remains poorly understood compared to silicic due the scarcity of carbonatite volcanoes worldwide and because volcanic H2O CO2—major components in systems—are not well preserved rock record. To further our understanding genesis, we utilize non-traditional thallium (Tl) isotope system Khanneshin carbonatites Afghanistan. These contain 250–30,000 ng/g Tl have ε205Tl values (...

[1] Thinning of mantle lithosphere due to Rayleigh-Taylor instability can be a mechanism for triggering continental magmatism near active or recently active plate boundaries. We consider whether it is also plausible as a mechanism for intracontinental magmatism, several hundred kilometers from active subduction or rifting. We perform two-dimensional Rayleigh-Taylor experiments and find that a s...

The Core Zone of the Southeastern Churchill Province, northeastern Laurentia, is a composite of Paleoproterozoic lithotectonic domains assembled in the vise between obliquely colliding Archean Superior and North Atlantic cratons between ca. 1860 and 1810 Ma. Detailed geological and U–Pb geochronological studies of domains in the southern Core Zone highlight significant differences in Archean an...

Silicic volcanic rocks are associated with most, if not all, continental ×ood basalt provinces and volcanic rifted margins, where they can form substantial parts of the eruptive stratigraphy and have eruptive volumes >104 km3. Poor preservation of silicic volcanic rocks following kilometer-scale uplift and denudation of the volcanic rifted margins, however, can result in only deeper level struc...

The gravity anomaly field over the whole Earth obtained by the GOCE satellite is a revolutionary tool to reveal geologic information on a continental scale for the large areas where conventional gravity measurements have yet to be made. It is, however, necessary to isolate the near-surface geologic signal from the contributions of thickness variations in the crust and lithosphere and the isosta...