A Section Across a Tethyan Suture in Northwestern Turkey
- 1 May 1996
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in International Geology Review
- Vol. 38 (5), 405-418
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00206819709465343
Abstract
A section across a major Tethyan suture in northwestern Turkey is described in detail. The suture of Early Tertiary age juxtaposes two continental blocks with distinct stratigraphic, structural, and metamorphic features. The Sakarya Zone in the north is represented by Permo-Triassic accretion-subduction complexes, which are unconformably overlain by Jurassic to Paleocene sedimentary rocks. The Anatolide-Tauride Block to the south of the suture consists of two tectonic zones. The Tavsanli Zone consists of a coherent blueschist sequence with Late Cretaceous isotopic ages. This blueschist sequence is tectonically overlain by Cretaceous oceanic accretionary complexes and peridotite slabs. The Bornova Flysch Zone consists of Triassic to Cretaceous limestone blocks in an uppermost Cretaceous to Paleocene flysch. The suture is represented by a N-vergent thrust fault separating lithologies from these two continental blocks. The orogenic history of the region can be considered in two stages. In the Late Cretaceous, the northern margin of the Anatolide-Tauride Block was subducted under the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere and was metamorphosed in blueschist-facies conditions. Blueschists were largely exhumed by the latest Cretaceous or early Paleocene, prior to the continental collision. In the second stage, during the Paleocene, the continent-continent collision produced a doubly vergent orogen involving both S- and N-vergent thrusting, but did not lead to major crustal thickening.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- The geological evolution of the vicinity of the Paşalar excavation area, M. Kemalpaşa-BursaJournal of Human Evolution, 1995
- Late Cretaceous exhumation of the Oman blueschists and eclogites: a two‐stage extensional mechanismTerra Nova, 1994
- Tectonic setting, petrology and geochronology of jadeite + glaucophane and chloritoid + glaucophane schists from north‐west TurkeyJournal of Metamorphic Geology, 1994
- Structure and metamorphism of blueschist–eclogite facies rocks from the northeastern Oman MountainsJournal of the Geological Society, 1994
- Kinematic history of the opening of the Black Sea and its effect on the surrounding regionsGeology, 1994
- Late Cenozoic crustal extension and basin formation in west TurkeyGeological Magazine, 1991
- The mammalian geochronology and biogeography of Paşalar (Middle Miocene, Turkey)Journal of Human Evolution, 1990
- Tethyan evolution of Turkey: A plate tectonic approachTectonophysics, 1981
- Archimedes and the Tauern eclogites: the role of buoyancy in the preservation of exotic eclogite blocksEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 1979
- The crust and upper mantle of the Aegean region from deep seismic soundingsTectonophysics, 1978