A preliminary framework for magmatism in modern continental back-arc basins and its application to the Triassic-Jurassic tectonic evolution of the Caucasus ...

• Main Authors: Vasey, Dylan, Cowgill, Eric, Cooper, Kari
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2020
• Subjects: FOS Earth and related environmental sciences; Bransfield Strait; Patagonia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25338/b8n03h; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.25338/B8N03H

In contrast to intraoceanic back-arc basins, extension within a continental back-arc basin initiates within continental rather than oceanic lithosphere. The geochemical characteristics of magmatic rocks within continental back-arc basins are poorly understood relative to their intraoceanic counterparts. Here, we compile published geochemical data from five modern continental back-arc basins – the Okinawa Trough, Bransfield Strait, Tyrrhenian Sea, Patagonia plateau, and Aegean Sea/Western Anatolia – to establish a geochemical framework for continental back-arc magmatism. This analysis shows that continental back-arcs yield geochemical signatures more similar to arc magmatism than intraoceanic back-arcs. We apply this framework to published data for Triassic-Jurassic magmatic rocks from the Caucasus arc system, which includes a relict continental back-arc basin, the Caucasus Basin, that opened during the Jurassic and for which the causal mechanism of formation remains unexplained. 40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb ages ... : This dataset contains the Supporting Information for the manuscript entitled "A preliminary framework for magmatism in modern continental back-arc basins and its application to the Triassic-Jurassic evolution of the Caucasus." A description of the contents of the dataset can be found in the main Word document: Vasey_CaucArc_SupportingInformation.docx ...