Abstract
The late Cretaceous A-type Karaçayır pluton in Central Anatolia, Turkey, intrudes and entrains xenoliths of Palaeozoic limestone. Carbonatitic magmatic rocks within the syenite have been previously interpreted (Schuiling in Nature, 192:1280,
1961
) to result from metasomatic alteration and syntectic melting of marble. Carbonatites and associated calcite-syenites exhibit mineralogical characteristics (Ab-rich plagioclase, Ba-rich K-feldspar, low-Mg# biotite) that are petrogenetically more evolved than the host syenitic suite. Geochemically, carbonate-rich magmatic rocks are greatly enriched in Sr, Ba, Th, and REE and have higher LREE/HREE ratios than either syenites or marbles. In terms of O-C-Sr-Pb isotope ratios, the carbonatite/calcite-syenite suite form a consistent and geochemically coherent group that is distinct from the marble country rock and xenolith population, but similar to some of the syenitic, and particularly the nepheline syenite components of the Karaçayır pluton. Other silicate magmatic rocks are geochemically, isotopically, and geochronologically different, suggesting the pluton is composite. Overall, the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the carbonatites are incompatible with binary mixing of syenite and marble but are consistent with derivation of carbonatite from petrogenetically evolved foid syenite. Carbonate–silicate rock types have modal variations compatible with an origin by fractional crystallisation, rather than by liquid immiscibility.