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The Dar Gaz district is part of the Kahnouj ophiolitic complex in
southeastern Iran. Major intrusive rocks exposed in the Dar Gaz

district are gabbro, diabase dikes, aplitic granitic dikes,
and plagiogranites (plagiogranitic dikes and
quartz diorite to tonalite intrusions). Plagiogranites are mainly
composed of quartz, plagioclase, and ferromagnesian minerals, and
are typically low in K O, high in Na O and enriched in REE showing
2 2
geochemical features of oceanic plagiogranites. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb

analysis on zircons extracted from two plagiogranitic dike samples
yields weighted mean ages of 126.4 ± 1.7 Ma and 126.0 ± 1.3 Ma,
and 130.8 ± 1.8 Ma and 128.5 ± 1.3 Ma from
quartz diorite to tonalite intrusions, respectively. The plagiogranitic
intrusions were formed by partial melting of altered gabbroic rocks.
Plagiogranite dikes are characterized by greater fractionation of
felsic melts produced by partial melting. The aplitic granitic rocks
yielded LA-ICPMS U-Pb ages of 123.0 ± 1.7 Ma and 123.3 ± 1.9 Ma,
and have typical features of high-K alkali-calcic to calc-alkalic rocks
and are metaluminous to peraluminous formed by partial melting of
sedimentary material. All members of the plagiogranitic rocks have
moderately high LILE/HFSE ratios and are depleted of Nb, Ti, and
P similar to those of a subduction-related tectonic settings. Field
data and geochemical signatures of these plagiogranites suggest a
supra-subduction origin compatible with the tectonic environment
of the Kahnouj ophiolitic complex. These are considered to have
formed in a late Jurassic to early Cretaceous back-arc basin.
Introduction
Iran's ophiolites are part of the Middle Eastern Tethyan ophiolite
belt, which are geographically and tectonically distributed in five
main sectors including Zagros, northern Iran, Makran accretionary
prism, eastern Iran and Central Iran ophiolites (McCall, 1997;
Shafaii and Stern, 2014, Shafaii and Stern, 2015 and references
therein). The most extensive and prominent ophiolites in Iran
include Neyriz, Baft, Esphandagheh (Haji Abad), Balvard, Maku,
and Kermanshah located along the Zagros fold-thrust belt forming
the Zagros suture (Fig. 1). The northern Iran ophiolites include the
Rasht, Khoy, Misho, Sabzevar-Torbat-e-Heydarieh, Mashhad, and
Aghdarband (Fig. 1). Ophiolites of the Makran accretionary prism in
southeastern Iran comprise the Band-e-Zeyarat-Dar Anar (also
called Kahnouj ophiolite complex), Remeshk-Mokhtar Abad,
Iranshahr, and Fanuj-Maskutan ophiolites. Ophiolites of eastern
Iran form the north-south trending Birjand-Nehbandan ophiolite
belt. Finally, ophiolites of the Central Iran Block are represented by
the Shahr-e-Babak, Nain, Jandagh-Anarak, and Dehshir ophiolites
(e.g., Barbero et al., 2020; Desmons and Beccaluva, 1983; Saccani et
al., 2015, Saccani et al., 2018; Shafaii and Stern, 2014, Shafaii and
Stern, 2015).
The Kahnouj ophiolite complex (KOC) is bounded by two major
faults, the Jiroft Fault to the east and Sabzevaran Fault to the west
(Fig. 2). It covers more than 700 km , outcropping in the western
2
part of the Makran accretionary prism in southeastern Iran

(Kananian et al., 2001; McCall and Kidd, 1982). The KOC mainly
consists of mafic and ultramafic rocks intruded by diabase dikes
and of overlying volcanic rocks. Felsic rocks include plagiogranites
and aplitic granitic dikes and represent less than 10% of the rocks in
the region. Plagiogranites are leucocratic felsic rocks consisting of
albite granite, diorite, quartz diorite, tonalite, trondhjemite, and
albitite/anorthosite as massive bodies and dikes occurring in the
modern oceanic crust and ophiolites (Coleman and Donato, 1979;
Coleman and Peterman, 1975; Koepke et al., 2007; Li et al., 2013).
Despite their minor volume, these felsic rocks, such as
plagiogranite, offer an important opportunity to determine the age
and processes related to the formation of oceanic crust.
Detailed studies have been carried out on geology, petrography,
mineralogy, and geochemistry of the KOC gabbroic rocks (Arvin et
al., 2005; Dorani et al., 2017; Ghazi et al., 2004; Hassanipak et al.,
1996; Kananian, 2001; Kananian et al., 2001). Although granitoid
rocks have been identified and reported, no detailed study has been
conducted yet on geochronology, petrogenesis, and origin of
associated granitoid rocks. In this contribution, we present
descriptions of felsic rock associations exposed in the Dar Gaz
district in the middle part of KOC, along with geochemical data and
an enhanced petrogenetic model for development of these rocks.
Section snippets
Geological setting of KOC and adjacent complexes

The east-west trending Makran accretionary prism in SE Iran
formed above the still active, north -dipping subduction zone,
whose current trench is in the Oman Sea farther south (Burg et al.,
2013; Hunziker et al., 2015) (Fig. 1). The Makran accretionary prism
has a complex tectonic history and consists of the Colored Mélange
complex, also referred to as the Imbricate Zone (Burg et al., 2013;
Raymond, 2019), and several ophiolite complexes, e.g., Ganj,
Bajgan-Dur Kan, Band-e-Zeyarat-Dar Anar
Dar Gaz geological setting

The Dar Gaz district consists mainly of gabbroic rocks, diabase
dikes, and volumetrically subordinate ultramafic (feldspathic
wehrlite) and granitoid rocks (Fig. 4). The cumulate ultramafic
rocks, mainly phaneritic and porphyritic feldspathic wehrlite, are
mainly exposed in the northeastern part of the study area and are in
places intruded by diabase dikes. The coarse-grained gabbros
(ferrogabbro at the bottom to pyroxene-hornblende gabbro at the
top) are exposed in the eastern part of the Dar
Mineralogy
Samples were collected systematically from plagiogranite intrusions
(quartz diorite to tonalite), plagiogranite dikes, and aplitic granitic
dikes within the Dar Gaz district. Fifty polished sections were
prepared for petrography and studied by Zeiss Axioplan 2 optical
microscope at the Kharazmi University and Iranian Mineral
Processing Research Center (IMPRC). At IMPRC, electron probe
micro-analysis (EPMA) was carried out on feldspars and
hornblende by a Cameca SX100 mounted with five WDS
Field relationships, petrography, and mineral chemistry

of granitoid rocks
Felsic rocks in the Dar Gaz district consist of plagiogranite dikes,
plagiogranite intrusions, and aplitic granitic dikes.
Whole rock geochemistry

The major, trace-, and rare-earth-elements contents of the
granitoids rocks are presented in Appendix-Table A and are
summarized in Table 2. In the normative An-Ab-Or ternary diagram
(O'Connor, 1965), the plagiogranite dikes plot in the trondhjemite
field, whereas plagiogranite intrusion falls in the trondhjemite to
mainly tonalite compositional fields, and, finally, most of aplitic
granitic dikes show granite compositions (Fig. 8a). Plagiogranite
intrusive rocks plot on the edge of oceanic
Geochronology of the plagiogranite dikes

The zircons of the plagiogranite samples 1090–17 and 1090–22
have euhedral and broken short prismatic, stubby shapes with (101)
pyramids with a width/length ratio of 1.0 to 1.5–3.5. The CL images
reveal a homogeneous core and oscillatory-zoned rims (Fig. 12 a, b).
The zircon shape is typical for plagiogranite (M-type granites)
reported from many other ophiolites (Pupin, 1980; e.g., Renna et
al., 2017), as well as the internal structure revealed by CL images
(Hoskin and Schaltegger, 2003). Thus,
Petrogenesis of plagiogranite rocks: Models and

Concepts
Four main models have been proposed for the petrogenesis of
plagiogranites and rocks of a similar composition. The first model is
characterized by differentiation and fractional crystallization of a
basaltic magma in a shallow magma chamber within the oceanic
crust representing the final stage of the oceanic crust evolution
(Coleman and Donato, 1979; Gao et al., 2009; Jiang et al., 2008;
Lippard et al., 1986). Partial melting of hydrous gabbros (or basalts)
in a middle oceanic ridge setting (
Conclusions
The Dar Gaz area is part of the Kahnouj ophiolite complex
consisting of ultramafic and mafic units (mostly gabbros) along with
a series of granitoid rocks, including plagiogranite dikes and
intrusions and aplitic granitic dikes. U-Pb zircon ages of the Dar
Gaz plagiogranites are the best chronometer for the timing of the
formation of the Kahnouj ophiolite complex. The granitoids in the
Dar Gaz district have high LILE/HFSE ratios and show a distinct
depletion in Nb, Zr, and Ti contents
Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge financial support of the Iranian Mineral
Processing Research Center (IMPRC) and Kharazmi University of
Tehran, Iran. DL was supported by Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery grant of Canada.
U-Pb zircon dating was financially supported by the Excellent Youth
Fund of National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant
no. 41722207). Editor Prof. Greg Shellnutt is thanked for his advice
and helpful comments. Reviews by Prof. Paul T. Robinson and two

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The Dar Gaz district is part of the Kahnouj ophiolitic complex in

southeastern Iran. Major intrusive rocks exposed in the Dar Gaz

geochemical features of oceanic plagiogranites. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb

part of the Makran accretionary prism in southeastern Iran

Geological setting of KOC and adjacent complexes

Dar Gaz geological setting

Field relationships, petrography, and mineral chemistry

Whole rock geochemistry

Geochronology of the plagiogranite dikes

Petrogenesis of plagiogranite rocks: Models and

Declaration of Competing Interest

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