structural evolution of the latakia ridge and cyprus basin at the front of the cyprus arc eastern mediterranean sea abstract the active deformation front between the african and anatolian plates in the eastern mediterranean is delineated by the cyprus arc present plate kinematic vectors and earthquake data suggest that the movement along the eastern extent of the cyprus arc is largely sinistral strike slip it is however widely accepted that subduction took place beneath cyprus until the early miocene subduction has since thought to have become impeded by the collision of the eratosthenes seamount with the island of cyprus the deformation front of the cyprus arc is dominated by the latakia ridge a steep narrow high which merges gradually with the lower slope of the broad hecataeus rise in the west and extends to the northern levantine coast in the east where the expression of the ridge changes to a number of narrow northeast trending ridges and basins the latakia ridge has previously been interpreted as either a thrust culmination or a positive flower structure this study uses high resolution marine seismic reflection profiles to delineate the stratigraphic and structural architecture of the deformation front from seismic profiles four stratigraphic units bounded by major basin wide unconformities can be identified these units are eocene lower miocene miocene uppermost miocene messinian and pliocene quaternary the timing of deformation determined from growth stratal architectures on the flanks of the major structures show that two main phases of deformation characterize the structural history of the deformation front each of these phases represents a different kinematic regime a compressional regime dominated during the miocene whereas a strike slip regime dominated in the pliocene quaternary

discrete plio pleistocene phases of tilting and counterclockwise rotation in the southeastern aegean arc rhodos greece early pliocene formation of the south aegean left lateral strike slip system the island of rhodos represents an uplifted block in the largely submerged southeastern aegean forearc it has a complex history of subsidence uplift and counterclockwise rotation during the plio pleistocene in response to the interplay between large scale geodynamic processes in this paper we present a new chronostratigraphic framework for the continental pliocene apolakkia basin of southwestern rhodos we combine these time constraints with recently published chronostratigraphic data from the marine plio pleistocene basins of northeastern rhodos to reconstruct rotational and vertical motions our palaeomagnetic results identify two rotation phases for rhodos c 10 9 6 counterclockwise ccw rotation between 3 8 and 3 6 ma and c 17 6 ccw rotation since 0 8 ma between these phases rhodos tilted to the se drowning the southeastern coast to a depth of 500 600 m between 2 5 and 1 8 ma then to the nw which resulted in the re emergence of the drowned relief between 1 5 and 1 1 ma we relate the rotations of rhodos to incipient formation of the south aegean sinistral strike slip system and the foundering of the rhodos basin the previously shown absence of messinian evaporites in the deep marine rhodos basin in combination with the 3 8 ma onset of ccw rotation of rhodos constrains the onset of the formation of the south aegean strike slip system between 5 3 and 3 8 ma the formation of this strike slip system is probably related to the interplay of oblique collision between the southeastern aegean region and the northward moving african plate the westward motion of anatolia gravitational spreading of the overthickened aegean lithosphere and the recently postulated southwestward retreat of the african subducted slab along a subduction transform edge propagator fault

tectonics and magmatism in turkey and the surrounding area this volume contains 23 papers from a range of international contributors describing recent research into the tectonics and magmatism of turkey and its surroundings this region is sited at the collision zone between eurasia and afro arabia and as such provides an extraordinarily complete and well exposed record of the staged tectonic evolution of this sector of the alpine himalayan orogen the geological history of this area involves separation of continental fragments from the margin of gondwana their migration across the tethyan oceans the subsequent closure of these oceans and finally the development of the neotectonic regime which continues to evolve to the present day such a comprehensive record is relevant to the understanding of collisional zones worldwide the volume is divided into five sections tethyan evolution neotethyan ophiolites post tethyan basin evolution neotectonics and igneous activity the first two sections deal with tethyan oceans whose growth and subsequent closure dominated the geodynamic framework in the mesozoic and cenozoic the subsequent sections deal with more recent geological developments from the balkan peninsula in the west to the transcaucasus in the east that followed consumption of the tethyan oceans there is a broad mix of papers throughout the volume wide ranging review papers on ocean development and extensional tectonics are followed by detailed descriptions of petrology and geochemistry and geographically focused studies on basin evolution specific aspects of extensional and strike slip tectonics and discussions of the relationship of magmatic activity to the tectonic development of the area tectonics and magmatism in turkey and the surrounding area presents up to date results and ideas from a large number of international contributors on a wide range of current research activity in this region it is essential reading for all geoscientists with an interest in both academic and applied aspects of eastern mediterranean geology

segmented african lithosphere beneath the anatolian region inferred from teleseismic p wave tomography summary lithospheric deformation throughout anatolia a part of the alpine himalayan orogenic belt is controlled mainly by collision related tectonic escape of the anatolian plate and subduction roll back along the aegean subduction zone we study the deeper lithosphere and mantle structure of anatolia using teleseismic finite frequency p wave traveltime tomography we use data from several temporary and permanent seismic networks deployed in the region approximately 34 000 p wave relative traveltime residuals measured in multiple frequency bands are inverted using approximate finite frequency sensitivity kernels our tomograms reveal segmented fast seismic anomalies beneath anatolia that corresponds to the subducted portion of the african lithosphere along the cyprean and the aegean trenches we identify these anomalies as the subducted aegean and the cyprus slabs that are separated from each other by a gap as wide as 300 km beneath western anatolia this gap is occupied by slow velocity perturbations that we interpret as hot upwelling asthenosphere the eastern termination of the subducting african lithosphere is located near the transition from central anatolia to the eastern anatolian plateau or arabian eurasian collision front that is underlain by large volumes of hot underplating asthenosphere marked by slow velocity perturbations our tomograms also show fast velocity perturbations at shallow depths beneath northwestern anatolia that sharply terminates towards the south at the north anatolian fault zone nafz the associated velocity contrast across the nafz persists down to a depth of 100 150 km hence our study is the first to investigate and interpret the vertical extent of deformation along this nascent transform plate boundary overall the resolved upper mantle structure of anatolia is directly related with the geology and tectonic features observed at the surface of the anatolian plate and suggest that the segmented nature of the subducted african lithosphere plays an important role in the evolution of anatolia and distribution of its tectonic provinces

the cilicia adana basin complex eastern mediterranean neogene evolution of an active fore arc basin in an obliquely convergent margin abstract detailed interpretation of multi channel seismic reflection profiles showed that the deposition of the miocene successions in the cilicia adana basin complex occurred within a foredeep south of the arcuate tauride fold thrust belt the misis kyrenia fault zone defined the northernmost of a number of smaller thrust culminations developed within this foredeep fluvio deltaic successions suggest that the adana and inner cilicia basins became emergent during the tortonian when the western portion of the piggy back basin retained a marine connection the entire region became emergent during the messinian salinity crisis and up to 1000 m of evaporites were deposited in the cilicia and southern adana basins stratigraphic and structural relationships demonstrated that the late plio quaternary cilicia adana basin complex evolved as an asymmetric piggy back basin on the hanging wall of the large south verging misis kyrenia thrust culmination on the misis kyrenia segment of the culmination thrust activity ceased in early messinian whereas on the kyrenia segment it continued to the present the shift in the kinematics is expressed by the development of the ne sw trending steep faults with extensional separations bounding the plio quaternary depocentre in the adana and inner cilicia basins these basement rooted faults are incompatible with the contractional regime that existed in this part of the basin complex during the miocene in the outer cilicia basin the incompatibility between a domain of continued south directed fold thrust activity and uplift on the kyrenia range and a domain of extension associated with the development of plio quaternary depocentre indicates that strain is strongly partitioned across the e w trending southern basin bounding fault system along the southern margin of the outer cilicia basin progressive westward displacement of the tauride block within the aegean anatolian microplate created a localised transtensional regime within the inner cilicia and adana basins suggesting the presence of hard intra plate fault boundaries centred along the misis kyrenia horst block and the southern basin bounding fault system the northern basin bounding fault system including the kozan fault in the cilicia basin is a set of large antithetic structures linked to the master faults the westward pull out of the tauride block is related to the overall westward escape of the aegean anatolian microplate during the latest miocene to early pliocene whereas the continued contraction south of the basin complex across cyprus is related to the evolving collision and under plating of the continental micro fragment the eratosthenes we propose that the southern master fault of the outer cilicia basin primarily functions as a boundary separating a contractional microplate domain to the south from a transtensional microplate domain to the north

structural architecture of the rhodes basin a deep depocentre that evolved since the pliocene at the junction of hellenic and cyprus arcs eastern mediterranean abstract interpretation of 1500 km of multi channel seismic reflection profiles shows that the rhodes basin evolved in two distinct tectonic stages a protracted miocene convergence episode p1 resulted in the development of a mainly sse verging fold thrust belt this period corresponds with the emplacement of the lycian nappes to the northeast and fold thrust complexes on the island of rhodes to the west this phase of deformation ceased in the late miocene the absence of evaporites in the rhodes basin suggests that this region must have remained above the depositional base of marine evaporite environment during the messinian the morphology of the m reflector and the architecture of the lowermost pliocene growth strata in the central portion of the rhodes basin demonstrate the existence of rugged paleo relief over the pre existing miocene fold thrust belt in early pliocene the middle pliocene quaternary phase of deformation is characterised by ne sw sinistral transpression p2 and rapid regional subsidence the p2 deformation occurred in response to an actively curving hellenic arc and the increasing obliquity of its eastern limb the pliny strabo trenches or fault zones to the convergence vector of the african plate during this time the p1 structures became re activated as transpressional faults further facilitating the rapid subsidence we envisage the evolution of the rhodes basin as the result of subsidence associated with loading of the large imbricate thrust panels that carry the western tauride mountains in the north at present the pliny strabo fault zones are delineated as a ne sw trending 30 50 km wide zone that continue into the western segment of the rhodes basin this fault zone is further correlated with the similar trending 50 km wide burdur fethiye fault zone in southwestern turkey

late miocene surface uplift of the southern margin of the central anatolian plateau central taurides turkey the timing and pattern of surface uplift of miocene marine sediments capping the southern margin of the central anatolian plateau in southern turkey provide a first order constraint on possible mechanisms of regional uplift nannofossil ostracod and planktic foraminifera biostratigraphy of the basyayla section mut ermenek basin within the mut and koselerli formations suggests a tortonian age for marine sediments unconformably capping basement rocks at 2 km elevation the identification of biozone mmi 12a 7 81 8 35 ma from planktic foraminifera in the upper part of the section provides the tightest constraint on the age which is further limited to 8 35 8 108 ma as a result of the reverse polarity of the collected samples chron 4r 1r or 4r 2r this provides a limiting age for the onset of surface uplift at the margin of one of the world s major orogenic plateaus from which an average uplift rate of 0 24 0 25 mm yr can be calculated subhorizontal beds of the uppermost marine sediments exposed throughout the mut ermenek basin suggest minimal localized deformation with just minor faulting at the basin margin and broad antiformal deformation across the basin this implies that the post 8 ma uplift mechanism must be rooted deep within the crust or in the upper mantle published pn wave velocity data for the region are compatible with topography compensated by asthenosphere across the southern margin of the plateau showing a close match to the highest topography when elevations are filtered with a 100 km wide smoothing window uplift along the southern margin of the central anatolian plateau is also reflected by the pattern of miocene marine sediments capping the margin which form an asymmetric drape fold over the topography these observations together with tomographic evidence for slab steepening and break off beneath the eastern anatolian plateau suggest that at least some of the 2 km of post 8 ma uplift of the southern central anatolian plateau margin is compensated by low density asthenospheric mantle that upwelled following slab break off

petrology of the tekirova antalya ophiolite southern turkey evidence for diverse magma generations and their tectonic implications during neotethyan subduction the sw antalya complex is an assemblage of mesozoic carbonate platform margin and ophiolitic rocks which record the formation and tectonic emplacement of a small mesozoic ocean basin the late cretaceous ophiolitic rocks are located at two localities namely the relatively intact tekirova ophiolite to the east of kemer zone and the dismembered godene ophiolite to the west of kemer zone the tekirova antalya ophiolite comprises harzburgitic tectonites ultramafic to mafic cumulates isotropic gabbros and sheeted dikes numerous isolated dikes ranging in thickness from 5 cm to 10 m intruded the crustal rocks at different structural levels the isotropic gabbros are represented by gabbro diorite and quartz diorite rocks with granular to ophitic subophitic textures the isolated dikes are characterized by dolerite diabase and microdiorite with ophitic intersertal and microgranular textures these rocks exhibit tholeiitic to alkaline compositions new geochemical data presented in this paper from the isolated dikes and isotropic gabbros suggest that there are three main types of parental basic magmas that form the oceanic crustal rocks of the tekirova antalya ophiolite these are 1 iat series which can be referred to the group i isolated dikes and isotropic gabbros 2 low ti boninitic series characterized by the group ii isolated dike and isotropic gabbros and 3 oib type including the group iii isotropic gabbros the geochemical evidence suggests that the crustal rocks of the tekirova antalya ophiolite were generated from a progressive source depletion from island arc tholeiites iat to boninites therefore a fore arc tectonic setting seems likely for the generation of the crustal rocks from the tekirova antalya ophiolite in the southern branch of neotethys during the late cretaceous the oib type alkaline isotropic gabbros are thought to have resulted from either 1 a late stage magmatic activity fed by melts that originated within an asthenospheric window due to slab break off or 2 subduction of a ridge system which generated oib source across the asthenospheric window that has been no influence of fluids from the subducted slab into the overlying mantle wedge shortly before the emplacement of the tekirova antalya ophiolite onto the tauride platform

miocene remagnetisation of carbonate platform and antalya complex units within the isparta angle sw turkey abstract a palaeomagnetic study has been carried out within the mesozoic and tertiary units of the relatively autochthonous carbonate platforms and the allochthonous deep sea volcanics and sediments of the antalya complex exposed around the isparta angle sw turkey the antalya complex is interpreted as a mosaic of carbonate platforms basinal sediments volcanic and ophiolitic rocks which formed within a southerly strand of the neotethyan ocean adjacent to gondwana the results indicate a widespread remagnetisation event negative fold tests show that the remanence at most sites is of secondary origin e g within the cirali lavas the magnetisation is carried by magnetite of presumed authigenic origin the remagnetisation event is believed to have occurred in the early middle miocene burdigalian langhian it was possibly triggered by the migration of orogenic fluids ahead of the advancing lycian nappes during their emplacement onto the carbonate platforms subsequent to remagnetisation a large segment of the isparta angle underwent an anticlockwise rotation of 30 this rotation is attributed to the overall convergence and bending of the hellenic arc and the final stages of emplacement of the lycian nappes during the late miocene in agreement with previous studies previously southerly palaeolatitudes were inferred from late triassic extrusives of the godene zone calbali dag unit the post folding magnetisation identified here within the cirali lavas of the godene zone to the south implies that these low palaeolatitudes result from the inappropriate application of structural tilt corrections the available data cannot be used to substantiate an origin for the antalya units south of the equator in the early mesozoic instead a position close to the northern margin of gondwana is indicated

salt tectonics in two convergent margin basins of the cyprus arc northeastern mediterranean abstract seismic reflection profiles from the adana cilicia and iskenderun latakia basin complexes in the ne mediterranean sea show the presence of linked extensional contractional fault systems detached at the base of the messinian evaporites the extensional domain is developed within the thick proximal part of the plio quaternary delta succession in the inner part of each basin it is characterized by imbricate fans of listric normal faults which delineate turtle anticlines and their intervening syncline the faults sole into the gently southwest dipping detachment surface in the inner basins salt is largely evacuated toward the outer basins but remnants occur as rollers in the footwalls of the listric extensional faults and small subdued pillows beneath turtle anticlines the narrow synclines between the two turtle back growth anticlines record a more complicated history of rise and fall of the salt related to switch in vergence of the extensional fault fan a large salt wall is developed at the toe of the delta complex in both basins two wide peripheral sinks are present within the plio quaternary units on both flanks of the salt wall locally small segments of salt welds are present near the base of the salt wall the contractional domain is characterized by a relatively thin plio quaternary cover overlying a relatively uniform 500 800 ms thick salt substrate a series of salt cored growth folds are commonly associated with thrusts of variable vergence the halokinetic structures in the cilicia and latakia basins display a remarkable resemblance to detached and linked systems of extensional and contractional fault fans documented in classical salt provinces on passive margins the study area also resembles scaled experiments which document synchronous development of extensional and contractional fault systems detached in a ductile substrate however a number of differences also exist which may arise from several factors including the nature of ductility contrast between the ductile portion of the evaporite layer and the supra salt succession the thickness ratio of overburden to evaporite unit and the rate of progradation and the nature of sediment distribution during the evolution of the delta complex the special aspect of these associations of linked gravity driven extensional and contractional salt structures is that they are developed as a self contained system wholly situated within a plio quaternary transtensional basin

miocene recent evolution of the western antalya basin and its linkage with the isparta angle eastern mediterranean abstract interpretation of 9500 km of multichannel seismic reflection profiles showed the presence of two major tectonic histories in western antalya basin spanning from the miocene or older to the pliocene quaternary a prominent fold thrust belt affects the miocene succession in the offshore the thrusts swing from a nw se strike with sw vergence in the northeast of the mapped area to a more northerly strike with westerly vergence at the western shelf edge of the deep basin the miocene deformation appears to continue offshore from the westerly directed thrusting seen onshore that characterizes the eastern edge of the isparta angle the contraction is consistent with the counterclockwise miocene rotation of the western side of the isparta angle determined from paleomagnetic studies the thrust belt forms the western extremity of the wider regional aksu kyrenia misis oroclinal culmination the tectonic activity experienced a period of relative quiescence across the western antalya basin during the messinian a major kinematic change occurred in the pliocene when the regional strain was partitioned into three spatially localized tectonic domains an extensional domain confined to the pliocene quaternary unit 1 occupied the northeastern portion of the study area a predominantly extensional domain with a few re activated pre existing miocene contractional structures occupied the southern and central portion of the study area and an extensional and or transtensional domain occupied the continental shelf and slope in the westernmost antalya basin these complexities relate to strike slip motions as the crustal block within the isparta angle moved northwards relative to the blocks to the north

results from a detailed aeromagnetic survey across the northeast newfoundland margin part ii early opening of the north atlantic between the british isles and newfoundland abstract poles of rotation for the north atlantic have been derived from the results of a new aeromagnetic survey northeast of newfoundland reconstruction of the north atlantic at anomaly 34 time shows a band of large amplitude magnetic anomalies which parallels anomaly 34 on both sides of the atlantic from flemish cap and goban spur to the azores gibraltar fracture zone a group of similar anomalies has also been identified in the bay of biscay north of goban spur and flemish cap these anomalies follow the ocean continent boundary poles of rotation derived for this anomaly show that it forms an isochron 100 110 m y during the long cretaceous normal polarity interval the cause of this anomaly is not definite but it may represent an increase in the magnetization of the crust during a limited time within the cretaceous magnetic quiet zone by a process such as replacement of thermoremanent magnetization by chemical remanent magnetization as proposed by raymond and labrecque the north atlantic has also been reconstructed at the time of the initial opening in the region between flemish cap and the charlie gibbs fracture zone using inferred ocean continent boundaries on the west and east sides it has been shown that the entire region could not have saparated at one time but that spreading between the british isles and newfoundland had to progress from south to north consequently when active sea floor spreading was taking place between goban spur and flemish cap about 110 m y the region to the north was still being stretched the calculated amount of stretching as derived from the reconstructions about 25 agrees well with the extension of the lithosphere obtained from modelling the subsidence history of this region and with the results of deep seismic studies active spreading in the north started about 100 m y ago

sedimentary architecture of a canyon style fairway feeding a deep water clastic system the miocene cingoz formation southern turkey significance for reservoir characterisation and modelling abstract the sedimentary architecture of a submarine canyon fill supplying sediment to a deep water fan system in the adana basin southern turkey is described and quantified the canyon is at least 9 km long 3 4 km wide asymmetric in cross section and has an exposed fill 360 m thick consisting of sands and gravels deposited in sheets across the entire width of the canyon normal graded and nongraded pebbly sandstones reflecting deposition from both waning and waxing high density turbidity currents dominate these deposits facies are identified and correlated between closely spaced sedimentary logs a hierarchy of bedding scales is recognised ranging from individual beds and their sedimentary structures through 3 21 m thick packages of beds to 100 m thick major units this hierarchy provides the framework for computer generated 3d models where sandstone bodies and facies are stochastically modelled to provide a better understanding of the internal sedimentary architecture within similar types of canyons in subsurface or in areas of poor exposure

lithologic tomography an application to geophysical data from the cadomian belt of northern brittany france abstract a probabilistic description of subsurface lithologic structures can be established by inverting multidisciplinary geophysical data constrained by geological and geostatistical priors the methodology is based on the joint modelling of several media properties and on a statistical description of the relationships between them the information provided by the geophysical data and the geological and geostatistical priors is represented by probability density functions pdf that are combined into a posterior pdf composed by 1 a prior pdf in the space of the primary lithologic model parameters 2 a pdf of the secondary physical model parameters conditional to the primary model parameters and 3 a joint likelihood function that is the product of the independent likelihood functions for each observed geophysical field applying a markov chain sampling method enables a large sample of joint models to be generated from the posterior pdf the true configuration of the media is then determined from the representation of models pulled from the chain and the elaboration of statistics from the large sample of posterior joint models the method was used to invert gravity and magnetic data jointly characterising the mass density field the magnetic susceptibility field and the lithotype field along two 2 d sections of the geological units in the cadomian belt of northern brittany besides generating 10 6 joint models consistent with the observations and priors some features of the joint models and the statistical tomographic images provided additional insights to the geologic configuration of the area for example the main cadomian thrust shows an irregular geometry that could have resulted from the belt emplacement and or from variscan tectonism and the hercynian granitic intrusion shows a deep subsurface continuation the cosimulation of magnetic susceptibility and mass density inside each lithologic region was performed according to a multivariate gaussian model or a mixed multivariate gaussian functions model that was developed specially to describe multimodal distributed properties

neogene development of the antalya basin eastern mediterranean an active forearc basin adjacent to an arc junction abstract detailed interpretation and mapping of high resolution multi channel seismic reflection profiles showed a two phase history for the miocene recent kinematic evolution of the antalya basin the first phase of deformation occurred in the middle late miocene when a crustal scale imbricate fold thrust belt developed this phase of deformation affected the entire antalya basin and is represented by several major northwest southeast striking north dipping and south verging thrust culminations which created a series of elongated to teardrop shaped piggyback basins the transitions from late miocene to messinian and messinian to plio quaternary are marked by the n and m reflectors which record the periods of erosion associated with the initial and final phases of desiccation of the mediterranean sea respectively a fundamental change in kinematic regime occurred during the transition from the miocene to plio quaternary during early pliocene to recent the fold thrust belt was overprinted by extensional transtensional faults in the northeastern antalya basin while transpression dominated the southwestern antalya basin this tectonic phase is related to the westward displacement of the tauride block as the eastern segment of the aegean anatolian microplate initiated its westward escape in the latest miocene to early pliocene

kinematics of the central taurides during neotethys closure and collision the nappes in the sultan mountains turkey in the central taurides the sultan mountains comprise in ascending order the cimendere unit and the aksehir doganhisar cay nappes composed of metasedimentary sequences deposited from cambrian to tertiary the overthrust of the cay nappe on the lutetian celeptas formation representing the uppermost stratigraphic position in the cimendere unit indicates that the latest nappe emplacement occurred during the middle eocene the oligocene and miocene rocks are in post tectonic facies in the west central taurides the kinematic data from these nappes related to closure of the neotethys reveal a top ne shear sense in the northwest part and a top se shear sense in the southeast part of the sultan mountains the sultan mountains are located in the north part of the isparta angle which was tectonically assembled by the lycian hoyran beysehir hadim and antalya allochthons on the bey daglari and anamas akseki autochthons from the latest cretaceous to the late pliocene the previous paleomagnetic data showed that the west and east subsections of the isparta angle were subjected to post eocene 30 40 anticlockwise and clockwise rotations respectively in consideration of these paleomagnetic data the kinematic data measured in the sultan mountains might be restored into approximately e w trending linear fabric associated with a top e shear sense these new kinematic data from the nappes in the sultan mountains disagree with the existing tectonic models that suggest n s nappe translation over the central taurides during the latest cretaceous middle eocene the alternative tectonic model for the antalya nappes in the core of the isparta angle related to east west compression suggests westward and eastward nappe emplacements on the surrounding autochthons however the new kinematic data presented here point consistently to a top e shear sense in all tectonostratigraphic units in the sultan mountains currently located in the north part of the anamas akseki autochthon

varying tectonic control on basin development at an active microplate margin latakia basin eastern mediterranean abstract detailed interpretation of multichannel seismic reflection profiles show that the latakia basin evolved in two distinct tectonic stages southeast directed contraction that culminated in the latest miocene followed in the early middle pliocene by progressive transition to partitioned contraction and extension related to the initiation of strike slip along the eastern anatolian transform fault and its marine extensions the miocene fold thrust belt comprises two arcuate culminations enclosing a miocene piggy back depocentre situated on the backlimb of the amanos larnaka ramp anticline in the early middle miocene this piggy back basin was part of a much wider foredeep that also encompassed the miocene successions of the cilicia adana basin complex to the north the misis kyrenia fold thrust belt evolved in the tortonian effectively dividing the foredeep into two large piggy back basins our data demonstrate that a fundamental change in kinematic regime occurred during the messinian to early pliocene involving the onset of strike slip movements resulting in transtension along the northeast trending portion of the main lineaments bounding the latakia basin and continued contraction across the east trending portion of the lineaments in the northeastern portion of the latakia basin southeast directed thrusting ceased in the early messinian and was followed in the lower pliocene by the development of horst and grabzen structures bounded by faults linking onland with the strands of the east anatolian transform fault

new evidence and model on the evolution of the southeast anatolian orogen this paper describes the orogenic evolution of the southeast anatolian orogenic belt based mostly on new geologic data collected from its constituent tectonic units in the course of new mapping programs of the past decade the southeast anatolian orogenic segment of the alpides may be divided into three approximately east west trending zones from south to north they are the arabian platform followed by a zone of imbrication and then a zone of nappes the arabian platform includes a mostly marine sedimentary succession deposited from early cambrian to middle miocene time the zone of imbrication is a narrow belt sandwiched between the arabian platform and the zone of nappes it consists of imbricated thrust slices emplaced onto a late cretaceous to early miocene sequence the zone of nappes is the highest tectonic unit consisting of two stacks of nappes simply designated the lower and upper nappes the lower nappe is represented by the slices of a polyphase metamorpbic ophiolitic assemblage and the maden group the upper nappe rests on the lower nappe and is represented by the bitlis and poturge metamorphic massifs southeastern anatolia underwent two major episodes of alpide deformation the first occurred during the late cretaceous period when ophiolite was emplaced on the arabian platform this event was not the consequence of a continental collision the ophiolite obduction onto the arabian platform was followed by a regionwide extension and a new marine transgression over the platform immediately after the ophiolite obduction the second episode of deformation occurred during middle eocene miocene time in two distinct stages as a result of the progressive elimination and complete closure of the ocean s which led to the collision between the zone of nappes located to the north being a part of eurasia and the arabian plate the maden marginal basin formed north of the subduction zone that eliminated the ocean between eurasia and arabia along the southern margin of the taurus belt and abutted the arabian plate much later during the final collision the second episode of deformation formed the present orogenic segment leading to the amalgamation of different tectonic units these amalgamated nappes collided with the arabian plate and welded onto it at the latest stage of the orogenic evolution during the miocene epoch

first paleomagnetic evidence for a post eocene clockwise rotation of the western taurides thrust belt east of the isparta reentrant southwestern turkey abstract a paleomagnetic study was carried out on 23 sites sampled in paleocene eocene and lower miocene sedimentary formations of the western taurides belt east of the isparta reentrant the paleomagnetic data based on twelve suitable sites record a coherent post eocene 40 clockwise rotation throughout the area studied we interpret this regional rotation as a semi rigid rotation of the whole western taurides belt above a major deep decollement level together with previously published data these new results suggest that the isparta reentrant would result from diachronous opposite rotations of the two branches first a late eocene oligocene clockwise rotation of the akseki beysehir taurides initiating the tauride arc and then anticlockwise rotation of the lycian taurides probably during middle miocene times

sedimentology of a late cenozoic collisional sequence the misis complex adana southern turkey abstract this study is concerned with miocene sequences formed within part of the cukurova basin of southern turkey a major downwarp created during the early stages of collision between the afro arabian plate and the tauride anatolian microplate assemblage we report here the results of a combined stratigraphical sedimentological structure and geochemical study of the misis complex a structurally elevated segment of cukurova basin fill this analysis has demonstrated the structurally imbricated nature of the misis sequences and the tectonic juxtaposition of originally well separated coeval facies the initial discernible phase of basin filling pre burdigalian was marked by deep marine conditions and marginal tectonic instability probably related to a late phase of tauride nappe advance the subsequent phase of crustal extension burdigalian early tortonian produced expansion of the cukurova basin limits and an upwards shoaling succession in which sediment transport towards the southwest gradually became dominant as a result of earlier suturing and uplift in northeasterly sectors of the collision zone the miocene arenites of the misis complex are petrographically diverse with common siliciclastic and carbonate detrital admixtures and mineralogically immature and their position in petrotectonic fields indicates a compound provenance from both recycled orogen and magmatic arc sources a noteworthy petrographic feature is the compositional similarity of arenites from both shallow and deep marine facies the general succession of neogene facies observed in the cukurova basin and misis complex is consistent with their evolution within a perisutural foreland basin but this interpretation is complicated by petrographic and geochemical features attributed to remnants of an older magmatic arc later stages of basin filling are also marked by the local occurrence of anomalous palaeoenvironmental associations including olistostromic units attributed to contemporaneous intra basinal tectonism

lithosphere tearing at step faults response to edges of subduction zones abstract slab edges are a relatively common feature in plate tectonics two prominent examples are the northern end of the tonga subduction zone and the southern end of the new hebrides subduction zone near such horizontal terminations of subduction trenches ongoing tearing of oceanic lithosphere is a geometric consequence we refer to such kinks in the plate boundary as a subduction transform edge propagator or step other steps are the north and south ends of the lesser antilles trench the north end of the south sandwich trench the south end of the vrancea trench and both ends of the calabria trench volcanism near steps is distinct from typical arc volcanism in some cases slab edges appear to coincide with mantle plumes using 3d mechanical models we establish that step faults are stable plate tectonic features in most circumstances in the probably rare cases that the resistance to fault propagation is high slab break off will occur relative motion along the transform segment of the plate boundary often is non uniform and the step is not a transform plate boundary in the rigid plate tectonics sense of the phrase step propagation may result in substantial deformation rotation topography and sedimentary basins with a very specific time space evolution surface velocities are substantially affected by nearby steps

the eastern hellenic margin from crete to rhodes example of progressive collision abstract available geological and geophysical data from the eastern hellenic outer margin between eastern crete and rhodes have been interpretated and analyzed the data support the hypothesis of a progressive continental collision between the aegean domain and the african intermediate crust the resulting geological structures are compared with similar features generated elsewhere in response to crustal shortening based on distribution of epicenters bathymetry two separate and sublinear troughs and seismic profiles we propose an evolution of the area in two main episodes an activation of the margin in the upper miocene and a progressive collision starting in the pliocene

recent sedimentary events in the western gulf of lions western mediterranean abstract analysis of very high resolution data 3 5 khz profiles and em12d acoustic imagery collected during the calmar catalono languedocian margin cruise 1997 highlighted the occurrence of two very recent but previously unknown erosional sedimentary events on the continental rise between the rhone fan and the pyreneo languedocian ridge these events preserved as unconformable very thin lobes observable on acoustic imagery but not on 3 5 khz echo soundings relate to erosional processes linked to near bottom currents that seem to characterize the holocene hydrodynamical conditions in the deep gulf of lions they follow a pleistocene regime when gravity sedimentation dominated on the gulf of lions margin either through aggradational turbidite deposition rhone fan and pyreneo languedocian ridge or through remobilization of sediments by regional mass movements processes

tectono stratigraphic evolution of an early miocene incised valley fill derincay formation in the mut basin southern turkey abstract an early miocene early burdigalian incised valley fill was produced through development of an alluvial system during active extension and block rotation in the mut basin five phases of alluvial activity have been recognized and are linked to specific tectono stratigraphic factors the entrenchment phase phase 1 was a response to a rapid decrease in accommodation caused by a combination of sea level fall and accelerated tectonism that occurred around the basin during active extension a lacustrine depositional system that pre dated entrenchment was abruptly succeeded by an erosional fluvial system the initial erosion the entrenchment phase was followed by the deposition of ephemeral meandering fluvial facies and later by high sinuosity sandy meandering fluvial facies during the aggradational phase phase 2 coarser grained lower sinuosity meandering river facies were vertically stacked in response to successive periods of fault block rotation and basinal subsidence the thickest stratigraphic interval was deposited during this time simultaneously in a basinward position finer grained distal facies were deposited the succeeding backfilling phase phase 3 was marked by further fault block rotation and an increase in the catchment area that resulted in higher flow regime and more sediment input a further increase in accommodation space due to block rotation resulted in the retreat of facies belts and the deposition of a retrogradational stacked gravelly low sinuosity meandering facies during the early transgressive phase phase 4 in the downstream part of the alluvial valley fluvio deltaic and non marine transitional facies were deposited and progressively retreated landwards during marine flooding phase 5 marks the main interval of early miocene marine transgression a combination of global eustasy and regional epeiric subsidence during this time the facies belts within the incised valley fill were dominated by estuarine and lagoonal facies assemblages while the distal parts of the alluvial valley became completely flooded with marine waters at the end of the transgressive phase in the uppermost early burdigalian the estuarine and lagoonal facies migrated further inland while shallow marine sediments reefal limestones were deposited in distal parts of the now drowned valley blanketing the pre existing topography

palaeoenvironmental analysis of a miocene basin in the high taurus mountains southern turkey and its palaeogeographical and structural significance determination of the relationships between the southern marine dominated miocene basins of south central turkey and their continental hinterland in southern turkey has traditionally been frustrated by the apparent absence of basin remnants within the taurus mountains the dikme basin which seems to be an enclave of basin remnants within the aladag mountains eastern taurides consists mainly of coarse grained continental sediments of various facies these mostly early middle miocene sediments were studied to determine the depositional environments and the factors controlling the basin formation and basin fill architecture to attempt to close the information gap between the adana basin to the south and central anatolian miocene further to the north a generally southwest flowing axial fluvial system and interfingering coarse grained marginal alluvial clastics derived from northwest and southeast were identified the marginal facies to the northwest is bounded by a n 55 e running structural lineament that starts from the ecemis fault zone and in digital elevation models extends toward the north of the study area along this lineament miocene sediments onlap steep fault line escarpments certain miocene levels are tectonically disrupted and an intraformational unconformity and boulder conglomerates are also well developed in the miocene sequence the southeast boundary is similarly defined by a ne trending fault that periodically elevated the adjacent tufanbeyli autochthon producing coarse clastics from this area this boundary fault also induced fining upwards vertical patterns and synsedimentary deformation in the marginal facies additionally the central part of the basin exhibits a distinct fault defined morphology characterized by small scale tens of metres to 150 m high valley and sill topography a thin marine interval was also encountered in the southernmost part of the basin indicating that the clastic system originating around this area debouched into a miocene sea situated further to the south the proposed palaeogeography and basin fill model suggests that the dikme basin and similar miocene remnants all controlled mainly by a northeast running extensional or transtensional fault system may have been parts of the terrestrial hinterland that supplied sediment to rapidly subsiding marine areas further south such as the adana basin

fault block rotations at the edge of a zone of continental extension southwest turkey the ne sw trending burdur acigol and baklan basins of southwest turkey are bounded by normal faults which became active in quaternary times prior to this a more widely spaced system of pliocene basins had existed each of the quaternary basins has a half graben geometry with a major nw dipping fault on its southeast side previous studies of the 1971 burdur earthquake caused by movement on the fault bounding the burdur basin have shown this fault to flatten slightly at depth deformation in the hangingwall of the fault controlling the pliocene basin in the burdur region suggests a planar fault geometry it is suggested that the pliocene fault rotated to its present shallow orientation then became inactive and acted as a detachment at depth for the more recent quaternary fault quaternary faults bounding the burdur acigol and baklan basins have a sinistral strike slip component with slip vectors indicating extension in an nw se direction this is at variance with regional n s extension in western turkey a solution for this contrast is found by invoking block rotations about vertical axes in a deforming zone between the rapidly extending aegean region to the west and the stable unstretched anatolian plateau to the east

lithospheric boundaries and plate motions in the cyprus area abstract accurate location of earthquakes recorded by seismographs and reliable fault plane solutions of strong recent earthquakes are used to define the plate boundaries and the pattern of plate motion in cyprus and surrounding area spatial distribution of shallow h

structures and kinematics in the northeastern mediterranean a study of an irregular plate boundary abstract extensional structures are prominent in the northeastern mediterranean a unique sector of the africa eurasia plate convergence zone to explain this paradoxical situation we analyse here the young tectonics of this region by examining its structural elements and plate kinematics offshore multichannel seismic reflection profiles and onland geology show that the stuctural settings are different on the two sides of the northeastern mediterranean triple junction afr arb ana on the east stuctures controlled by strike slip and by compression coexist whereas on the west compression is not very conspicuous here deep basins separated by a partly submerged ridge are prominent we interpret the ridge which comprises the kyrenia misis andirin unit at its core as a large flower structure which extends from southeastern turkey to cyprus the adana cilicia and the iskenderun latakia mesaoria basins on its flanks are interpreted as due to extension this interpretation agrees with the relative motions between the africa arabia eurasia and anatolia plates in this region analysis of the local plate kinematics reveals that strike slip predominates along the southern boundary of the anatolia plate in this region as a result of anatolia s westward escape east of the triple junction this motion is associated with comparable shortening transverse to the plate boundary whereas west of the triple junction the motion transverse to the plate boundary varies between slight compression to extension depending mainly on the local strike of the plate boundaries these variations calculated from regional data correlate well with the observed structural changes along the northeastern mediterranean sector of the plate convergence zone the structural kinematic analysis explains both the lateral changes in the deformation style and the existence of local extension in the northeastern mediterranean

global positioning system constraints on plate kinematics and dynamics in the eastern mediterranean and caucasus we present and interpret global positioning system gps measurements of crustal motions for the period 1988 1997 at 189 sites extending east west from the caucasus mountains to the adriatic sea and north south from the southern edge of the eurasian plate to the northern edge of the african plate sites on the northern arabian platform move 18 2 mm yr at n25 5 w relative to eurasia less than the nuvel 1a circuit closure rate 25 1 mm yr at n21 7 w preliminary motion estimates 1994 1997 for stations located in egypt on the northeastern part of africa show northward motion at 5 6 2 mm yr also slower than nuvel ia estimates 10 1 mm yr at n2 4 e eastern turkey is characterized by distributed deformation while central turkey is characterized by coherent plate motion internal deformation of 2 mm yr involving westward displacement and counterclockwise rotation of the anatolian plate the anatolian plate is de coupled from eurasia along the right lateral strike slip north anatolian fault naf we derive a best fitting euler vector for anatolia eurasia motion of 30 7 0 8 n 32 6 0 4 e 1 2 0 1 myr the euler vector gives an upper bound for naf slip rate of 24 1 mm yr we determine a preliminary gps arabia anatolia euler vector of 32 9 1 2 n 40 3 1 1 e 0 8 0 2 myr and an upper bound on left lateral slip on the east anatolian fault eaf of 9 1 mm yr the central and southern aegean is characterized by coherent motion internal deformation of 2 mm yr toward the sw at 30 1 mm yr relative to eurasia stations in the se aegean deviate significantly from the overall motion of the southern aegean showing increasing velocities toward the trench and reaching 10 1 mm yr relative to the southern aegean as a whole

the oligocene recent evolution of the mesaoria basin cyprus and its western marine extension eastern mediterranean abstract the neogene stratigraphic and structural evolution of the mesaoria basin and kyrenia range is studied using multi channel seismic reflection profiles from their western marine extension the region north of the front of the troodos larnaka culmination constitutes a crustal scale s verging thick skinned linked imbricate thrust system comprising most of the forearc region north of the present day cyprus arc in the eocene thrust activity gave rise to the prominent growth of the troodos larnaka culmination and concurrent imbrication further north in the forearc region creating the root of the kyrenia fold thrust belt northward retreat of the active thrust front in the oligocene miocene led to the development of a foredeep across the root of the kyrenia fold thrust belt with a prominent depositional foredeep ramp situated at the current front of this belt crustal contraction continued in the miocene along the front of the troodos larnaka culmination leading to the progressive shoaling of the basin carried on the backlimb of this culmination in the late miocene thrust activity became widespread in the forearc region with structural contraction being focussed on the kyrenia fold thrust belt pliocene thrust activity in the forearc region is primarily focussed on the kyrenia fold thrust belt with much uplift occurring in the mid late pliocene but continuing to the present the mesaoria basin evolved in the miocene to pliocene as a piggy back basin our data negate earlier models that postulate a phase of crustal extension in the forearc region during the oligocene to mid late pliocene

the neogene evolution of the outer latakia basin and its extension into the eastern mesaoria basin cyprus eastern mediterranean the neogene stratigraphic and structural evolution of the eastern mesaoria basin is studied using multi channel seismic reflection profiles from the eastern marine extension of the basin into the outer latakia basin the region includes three major tectonic elements troodos larnaka culmination kyrenia fold thrust belt and the intervening mesaoria and outer latakia basins the troodos larnaka culmination is a large ophiolite cored ramp anticline developed above a deep seated s verging thrust complemented by a footwall imbricate thrust fan system extending into the cyprus basin the outer latakia basin is a large piggy back basin carried on the northern flank of the troodos larnaka culmination the kyrenia fold thrust belt is developed as a s verging trailing imbricate fan system these three tectonic elements form part of a crustal scale s directed linked thrust system which has a protracted tectonic history with major pulses of contraction in the eo oligocene the late miocene and the middle plio quaternary this system extends southward well into the cyprus basin and probably links with the subduction zone between the african plate and the anatolian microplate patterns of thrust activity in this linked thrust system exclude models of s migration of the plate boundary from mid tertiary to recent instead the upper plate is viewed as a broad zone of diffuse convergence distributed across a number of active fold thrust zones

relation of alkaline volcanism and active tectonism within the evolution of the isparta angle sw turkey the isparta angle ia is formed along the boundary of the african and eurasian plates by ne and nw striking faults north of the antalya gulf in sw turkey the ne striking strike slip burdur fault bounds the ia to the west and is probably the continuation of the pliny system of the hellenic arc the nw striking aksehir fault bounds it to the east platform type parautochthonous mesozoic carbonate sequences such as the beydag and anamas akseki occur in the western and eastern parts of the ia respectively whereas allochthonous ophiolite nappes include the antalya beysehir hoyran and lycian nappes the ia and adjacent areas are divided into three areas the teke the antalya and the akseki fragments by ne nw and n striking active strike slip faults with normal components ia region volcanics are alkaline and hyperkaline in character potassic ultrapotassic and locally occur as subvolcanic stocks and dikes they can be traced between the afyon and isparta regions these volcanics consist mainly of