Variscan magmatic evolution of the Strandja Zone (Southeast Bulgaria and northwest Turkey) and its relationship to other north Gondwanan margin terranes

The Strandja Zone, straddling the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, is often assigned to either the Balkanide or the Pontide thrust belts of the Alpine orogen in the Black Sea region. Previous studies have considered this zone, which originated on the North Gondwanan margin, as part of a Late Carboniferous to Triassic magmatic arc associated with the subduction of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean beneath Eurasia. Magmatism has been regarded as representing one continuous or two separate stages occurring under different tectonic settings. We present new LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon ages together with field, petrographic and geochemical studies of variably deformed granites from the Sakar Batholith and Levka Pluton of the Sakar Unit in the Strandja Zone. The new U-Pb ages from Sakar Batholith (ca. 306 Ma) and Levka Pluton (ca. 319 Ma) demand a re-evaluation of previously published U-Pb crystallisation ages from these magmatic bodies. The U-Pb age reported for the Levka Pluton also provides an upper age limit for the timing of Variscan metamorphism. The Late Carboniferous to Early Permian magmatic evolution of the Strandja Zone displays a strong resemblance to that of the Sredna Gora Zone. Both units, probably together with Serbo-Macedonian Metamorphic Complex and Sakarya Zone, were part of the metamorphic core of the Variscan Orogen.