Tectonic controls on stratigraphic evolution of the Adana Basin, Turkey

Neotectonic deformation linking the east Anatolian and Karataş‐Osmaniye intracontinental transform fault zones in the Gulf of İskenderun, southern Turkey, deduced from paleomagnetic study of the Ceyhan‐Osmaniye volcanics

“…The movement vectors ( Figure 2) suggest a contemporary compressive axis oriented WNW, while the sense of strike slip on the EAFZ suggests a complementary NNE extensional axis although it is often difficult to reconcile regional observations in the upper crust with such broad inferences. Thus recent studies in the KFZ bordering the eastern margin of the Amanos range indicate that the regional tectonics have undergone major changes here during the last $1 Ma and can no longer be accommodated by a single FFF model [Yurtmen et al, 2002;Tatar et al, manuscript in preparation, 2003]. However, resolution of the present kinematics depends primarily on clarifying the nature of the southwestward extension to the EAFZ.…”

“…Furthermore, both sides of the Amanos Range have been sites of access by asthenosphere melts to the surface during the last polarity chron (780,000 years see below and authors unpublished data). To the west of the Amanos Range the Gulf of I : skenderun is also a zone of dominant strike slip ( Figure 2) transitional with remnant oceanic crust in the eastern Mediterranean [Perinçek and Ç emen, 1990] and the bordering Adana Basin has experienced a complex history of infill since the Miocene [Williams et al, 1995].…”

“…The Karasu Fault Zone (KFZ) bordering the eastern margin of the Amanos Range and defining the western margin of the Karasu Basin (see Figure 1a) has long been considered to be the most important northern extension of the DSFZ and to link with the EAFZ either directly or via a triple junction near Kahramanmaraş in southern Turkey [Karig and Kozlu, 1990] (Figures 1a and 2). However, recent studies show that strike slip on the KFZ has become largely extinct during the last 1 Ma with relative motions only $10% of that on the DSFZ [Yurtmen et al, 2002;Tatar et al, manuscript in preparation, 2003].…”

“…[4] Alternative models for partitioning strike slip on the DSFZ into the Anatolian region fall broadly into two groups: (1) motion is now mostly transferred to the east of the KFZ on faults bounding the northwestern margin of the Arabian Shield and specifically within the Gaziantep Basin [Coşkun and Coşkun, 2000;Yurtmen et al, 2002]; (2) alternatively, slip on the DSFZ is now transferred mostly offshore to the west along a developing transform, possibly skenderun showing major faults and volcanic outcrops (based on the 1:100,000 geological map of Turkey) and the paleomagnetic sampling sites of this study. via a developing triple junction in the vicinity of Antakya in southern Turkey [see Ö ver et al, 2003] and thence via the Karataş-Osamniye Fault Zone (KOFZ) to the EAFZ (see Figures 1 and 2).…”

Multi-phased uplift of the southern margin of the Central Anatolian plateau, Turkey: A record of tectonic and upper mantle processes

“…The Central Taurides, which define the plateau's southern margin ( Fig. 1), were accreted to crustal blocks to the north starting in the Eocene (Jaffey and Robertson, 2005;Pourteau et al, 2010;Robertson et al, 1996;Şengör and Yılmaz, 1981;Şengör et al, 1984, 1985Yılmaz et al, 1997), while closure of the Neotethys Ocean to the south and associated ArabiaEurasia collision (Ballato et al, 2011;Hüsing et al, 2009;Kelling et al, 1987;Robertson, 2000;Şengör et al, 1985;Williams et al, 1995) resulted in westward "escape" of the Anatolian microplate along the North and East Anatolian faults (Dewey and Şengör, 1979;Şengör et al, 1985). Some uplift of Central Anatolia likely resulted from this plate-scale deformation, both along the southern margin prior to the Middle Miocene Robertson, 2002, 2005;Jaffey and Robertson, 2005) and at the northern margin due to strain accumulation along the broad restraining bend of the North Anatolian Fault (Yıldırım et al, 2011).…”