Palaeogene stratigraphy and chronology of the western Sivas Basin, central Anatolia (Turkey): Tectono‐sedimentary evolution of a well‐preserved basin along the northern Neotethys suture zone

Abstract

The Sivas Basin overlaps the northern Neotethys suture zone in central Anatolia (Turkey) and contains a ca. 12-km thick succession of Cenozoic strata that provides an exceptional record of major tectonic transitions from subduction to continental assembly and tectonic escape. Consensus regarding the tectonic and palaeogeographic Highlights • The Sivas Basin evolved from a remnant ocean to a foreland basin, and finally a fragmented foreland basin during the Paleogene. • The latest Eocene SSFTB partitioned the basin into a northern evaporitic foreland and a southern wedge-top basin. • The nonmarine Altınyayla Fm was deposited from ca. 34 to 26 Ma and was primarily derived from the eastern Taurides and SSFTB. • The Cenozoic tectono-sedimentary evolution of the northern and southern Sivas Basin were linked in space and time. F I G U R E 3 Basin-scale cross section of the western Sivas Basin showing general structural and stratigraphic relations within the southern Sivas fold-thrust belt (SSFTB) and adjacent northern and southern sub-basins; see Figure 2 for location and legend. Active left-lateral faults of the Central Anatolian fault zone (e.g. Deliler-Tecer) crosscut older and predominantly north-vergent thrusts of the SSFTB and eastern Tauride thrust belt. Note that structural style is variably controlled by relatively thick evaporites (dark grey) and salt tectonic process in the north, as opposed to more symmetric folding in the southern sub-basin. Structure of the northern Sivas sub-basin and SSFTB adapted from Legeay, Ringenbach, et al. (2019)