Tectonic denudation of a Late Cretaceous–Tertiary collisional belt: regionally symmetric cooling patterns and their relation to extensional faults in the Anatolide belt of western Turkey

Abstract

-Thermochronological data reveal that the Late Cretaceous-Tertiary nappe pile of the Anatolide belt of western Turkey displays a two-stage cooling history. Three crustal segments differing in structure and cooling history have been identified. The Central Menderes metamorphic core complex represents an 'inner' axial segment of the Anatolide belt and exposes the lowest structural levels of the nappe pile, whereas the two 'outer' submassifs, the Gördes submassif to the north and the Ç ine submassif to the south, represent higher levels of the nappe pile. A regionally significant phase of cooling in the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene affected the outer two submassifs and the upper structural levels of the Central Menderes metamorphic core complex. In the northern part of the Gördes submassif, cooling was related to top-to-the-NNE movement on the Simav detachment, as the apatite fission-track ages show a northward-younging trend in the direction of movement on this detachment. In the Ç ine submassif, relatively rapid cooling in Late Oligocene and Early Miocene times may have been related to top-to-the-S extensional reactivation of the basal thrust of the overlying Lycian nappes. The second phase of cooling in the Anatolide belt is related to Pliocene to Recent extension resulting in the formation of the Central Menderes metamorphic core complex in the inner part of the Anatolide belt. Core-complex development caused the formation of supra-detachment graben, which document the ongoing separation of the Central Menderes metamorphic core complex from the outer submassifs.

Exhumation with a twist: Paleomagnetic constraints on the evolution of the Menderes metamorphic core complex, western Turkey

“…However, Ring et al [1999aRing et al [ , 2003a and Pe- already noted that the amount of N-S extension in west Anatolia is significantly less. Comparably, post-Eocene extension in western Greece is restricted to half graben tectonics [van Hinsbergen et al, 2005c[van Hinsbergen et al, , 2006 and is insignificant compared to the strain in the central back arc.…”

“…The MMM is postdated by greenschist facies metamorphism associated with a series of extensional detachments that exhumed the Menderes Massif since the late Oligocene [Seyitoglu et al, 1992;Verge, 1993;Bozkurt and Park, 1994, 1997a, 1997bHetzel et al, 1995aHetzel et al, , 1995bHetzel et al, , 1998Bozkurt and Satir, 2000;Bozkurt, 2001b;Bozkurt and Oberhänsli, 2001;Gessner et al, 2001aGessner et al, , 2001bGökten et al, 2001;Isik and Tekeli, 2001;Lips et al, 2001;Isik et al, 2003Isik et al, , 2004Bozkurt and Mittwede, 2005]. This occurred in two stages: geochronologic evidence suggests that the northern and southern Menderes massifs (NMM and SMM) exhumed between ∼25 and ∼15 Ma, followed by the exhumation of the central Menderes Massif (CMM) since ∼15 Ma [Gessner et al, 2001b;Ring et al, 2003a]. The NMM is bounded in the north by the ductileto-brittle top-to-the-northeast Simav detachment, separating the Menderes Massif from the blueschist facies Afyon zone, and nonmetamorphosed ophiolitic mélange of the IzmirAnkara suture [Isik and Tekeli, 2001;Isik et al, 2004;Ring and Collins, 2005].…”

The geodynamics of the Aegean and Anatolia: introduction

“…Several core complexes (e.g. Rhodope, Cycladic, Kazdaǧ, Menderes, Niǧde core complexes: Lister et al 1984;Dinter & Royden 1993;Gautier et al 1993Gautier et al , 1999Bozkurt & Park 1994;Gautier & Brunn 1994;Dinter et al 1995;Vandenberg & Lister 1996;Hetzel et al 1998;Jolivet & Patriat 1999;Jolivet & Faccenna 2000;Lips et al 2001;Bonev & Stampfli 2003;Ring et al 2003;Gessner et al 2004;Beccaletto & Steiner 2005;Bonev 2006;Bonev et al 2006a, b;Bozkurt 2007;Régnier et al 2007, and references therein) and overprinting approximately east -west-trending grabens (e.g. Gulf of Corinth, Büyük Menderes and Gediz grabens) therefore form the most prominent elements of the AES.…”

A 3D model for the formation of turtleback surfaces: the Horzum Turtleback of western Turkey as a case study

“…Others evaluate the turtleback surfaces as part of a regional detachment faulting, and therefore a high amount of extension is possible for the region (Steward, 1983;. In western Turkey, the Horzum Turtleback is related to high-angle origin faults that require moderate extension, but this situation does not exclude a high amount of extension in the region because it is widely agreed that the formation of the Alaşehir and Büyük Menderes grabens is related to the second-stage exhumation of the central Menderes massif by symmetrical core complex formation (Gessner et al, 2001;Seyitoğlu et al, 2002;Ring et al, 2003;Seyitoğlu and Işık, 2009). The main exhumation of the Menderes massif requiring a high amount of extension occurred earlier in the first stage by asymmetrical core complex formation in which the Datça-Kale main breakaway fault and its northern continuation, the Simav detachment fault, played an important role .…”