First paleomagnetic evidence for a post-Eocene clockwise rotation of the Western Taurides thrust belt east of the Isparta reentrant (Southwestern Turkey)

Kinematic reconstructions and magmatic evolution illuminating crustal and mantle dynamics of the eastern Mediterranean region since the late Cretaceous

“…15-5 Ma ago), concomitantly with the ~20° counterclockwise rotation recorded in the Lycian nappes and the Bey Dağları platform (figure 3) [Kissel et al, 1993;van Hinsbergen et al, 2010avan Hinsbergen et al, , 2010b. Further east, the central Taurides experienced an ~40° clockwise rotation between the middle EoceneOligocene (figure 3) [Kissel et al, 1993] that also affects the Tavşanlı and Afyon units further north to a lesser degree [Pourteau et al, 2010]. Finally, an ~40° counterclockwise rotation occurred in Eocene volcanic rocks in the eastern Taurides (figure 3) [Kissel et al, 2003].…”

“…While no significant rotation was recorded north of the Menderes massif, the central Menderes massif underwent 25-30° counterclockwise rotation during its exhumation (i.e. 15-5 Ma ago), concomitantly with the ~20° counterclockwise rotation recorded in the Lycian nappes and the Bey Dağları platform (figure 3) [Kissel et al, 1993;van Hinsbergen et al, 2010avan Hinsbergen et al, , 2010b. Further east, the central Taurides experienced an ~40° clockwise rotation between the middle EoceneOligocene (figure 3) [Kissel et al, 1993] that also affects the Tavşanlı and Afyon units further north to a lesser degree [Pourteau et al, 2010].…”

“…clockwise rotation of the central Tauride platform (figure 3) [Kissel et al, 1993] resulted from the subduction/collision of the Arabian plate along the Eurasian margin. Rotation of these two rigid blocks could have been accommodated by the central Anatolian fault (figures 8n-r) [Koçyiğit and Beyhan, 1998;Jaffey and Robertson, 2001] as attested by the new, Oligocene burial of the Niğde massif in the southern CACC, attributed to the activation (or reactivation) of this transpressional structure [Idleman et al, 2014].…”

“…In addition, in order to fit the NE-SW to E-W stretching lineation of the Phyllite-Quartzite unit in the Peloponnese (figure 3) with the regional N-S to NNE-SSW extension, a similar clockwise rotation has to be applied to this HP-LT unit during its final exhumation in the Peloponnese. In opposition, 20-30° counterclockwise rotations have been recorded further east in the eastern Cyclades, the central Menderes, the Lycian nappes and the Bey Dağları platform (figure 3) [Kissel et al, 1993;van Hinsbergen et al, 2010avan Hinsbergen et al, , 2010b. These opposite rotations are related to the increasing curvature of the trench during the middle and late Miocene (figure 11) with no rotation recorded at the hinge, such as in Crete where the strike of the stretching lineation of the exhumed PhylliteQuartzite and the Plattenkalk units fits with the regional N-S to NNE-SSW extension (figure 3).…”

“…Tectonic map showing the main data used to constrain the kinematic evolution of the eastern Mediterranean region, including the stretching lineations in the MCCs [Rimmelé et al, 2006;Bonev and Beccaletto, 2007;Jolivet et al, 2013], the offset of main structures [Armijo et al, 1999;Jolivet et al, 2004aJolivet et al, , 2010bBrichau et al, 2006Brichau et al, , 2008 and the vertical-axis rotations deduced from paleomagnetic studies [Kissel and Laj, 1988;Kissel et al, 1993Kissel et al, , 2003Pǎtraşcu et al, 1994;Morris and Anderson, 1996;van Hinsbergen et al, 2005avan Hinsbergen et al, , 2008van Hinsbergen et al, , 2010aBrun and Sokoutis, 2007;Bradley et al, 2013]. CW: clockwise rotation.…”