Complex basin evolution in the Gokova Gulf region: implications on the Late Cenozoic tectonics of southwest Turkey

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Gürer Ö. F., Sanğu E., Ozburan M., Gurbuz A., Sarica-Filoreau N.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES, vol.102, no.8, pp.2199-2221, 2013 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 102 Issue: 8
  • Publication Date: 2013
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s00531-013-0909-1
  • Journal Name: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.2199-2221
  • Keywords: Western Anatolia, Piggyback basin, Nappe emplacement, Intermountain basin, Compression, Extension, Transpression, Neotectonic, SOUTHERN MENDERES MASSIF, HIGH-PRESSURE METAMORPHISM, WESTERN TURKEY, GEDIZ GRABEN, EXTENSIONAL TECTONICS, ANATOLIDE BELT, FIELD EVIDENCE, AEGEAN REGION, CONTINENTAL EXTENSION, KINEMATIC EVOLUTION
  • Kocaeli University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Southwestern Turkey experienced a transition from crustal shortening to extension during Late Cenozoic, and evidence of this was recorded in four distinct basin types in the Mugla-Gokova Gulf region. During the Oligocene-Early Miocene, the upper slices of the southerly moving Lycian Nappes turned into north-dipping normal faults due to the acceleration of gravity. The Kale-Tavas Basin developed as a piggyback basin along the fault plane on hanging wall blocks of these normal faults. During Middle Miocene, a shift had occurred from local extension to N-S compression/transpression, during which sediments in the Eskihisar-TA +/- naz Basins were deposited in pull-apart regions of the Menderes Massif cover units, where nappe slices were already eroded. During the Late Miocene-Pliocene, a hiatus occurred from previous compressional/transpressional tectonism along intermountain basins and Yatagan Basin fills were deposited on Menderes Massif, Lycian Nappes, and on top of Oligo-Miocene sediments. Plio-Quaternary marked the activation of N-S extension and the development of the E-W-trending Mugla-Gokova Grabens, co-genetic equivalents of which are common throughout western Anatolia. Thus, the tectonic evolution of the western Anotolia during late Cenozoic was shifting from compressional to extensional with a relaxation period, suggesting a non-uniform evolution.