In Northeastern Anatolia, the Erzurum-Kars plateau comprises the northernmost part of a volcanic province related to the collision between the Eurasian and Arabian continents. It contains an almost complete record of the volcanism from 11 Ma to 1.5 Ma. Volcanic units on the plateau are calc-alkaline in character and contain a distinct subduction signature. There was a systematic temporal variation in volcanic activity all over the plateau that can be seen in terms of three stages: it initiated with bimodal volcanic products between 11 and 6 Ma (the early stage), turned abruptly into a unimodal intermediate volcanism dominated by andesitic...