kinematic reconstructions and magmatic evolution illuminating crustal and mantle dynamics of the eastern mediterranean region since the late cretaceous the relationship between subduction dynamics and crustal deformation in the mediterranean region has been recently studied using three dimensional 3d numerical models such models require however a detailed information concerning the past geological evolution we use stratigraphic petrologic metamorphic structural paleomagnetic and magmatic data to build new kinematic reconstructions of the eastern mediterranean region since the late cretaceous using the principle of non rigid domains the motions of the 56 deforming domains defined in this work are calculated based on published paleomagnetic rotations the directions and amounts of displacement on crustal scale shear zones and the burial and exhumation histories of the main metamorphic units extracted from these reconstructions paleotectonic maps and lithospheric scale cross sections illustrate that the present day subduction zone has been continuously retreating southward since the late cretaceous and has accreted several small continental domains in the process we find evidence for two back arc related extensional events 1 slow extension along the balkans and the pontides in the late cretaceous while the trench was long and linear and 2 faster extension in the rhodope aegean west anatolian region since the eocene oligocene rapid rotation of the hellenides between 15 and 8 ma probably indicates a slab tearing event below western anatolia that could have further accelerated this extensional kinematics spatial distribution and the geochemical signature of magmatic centers integrated in these reconstructions allow us to trace mantle related processes revealing the deep dynamics that controls both the magma genesis and the crustal deformation

petrochemical features of miocene volcanism around the cubukludag graben and karaburun peninsula western turkey implications for crustal melting related silicic volcanism abstract widespread neogene volcanism mainly intermediate and rarely mafic and felsic in composition was controlled by the extensional tectonic regime in western turkey the karaburun and cumaovasi volcanics are the cases for understanding the magma source s and petrological processes producing the extension related mafic and felsic volcanism the karaburun volcanics kv are mainly oriented north to south in the karaburun peninsula and span a wide spectrum from basalt 20 ma to rhyolite 16 ma and younger trachyte and trachydacites 13 ma the products of the subaerial silicic volcanism the cumaovasi volcanics cv 17 ma which are represented by cluster of rhyolite domes related pyroclastics occur within the ne sw trending cubukludag graben and intermediate and mafic volcanic rocks are lack in this area the lavas of the cumaovasi volcanics are high silica rhyolites and rare dacites which are calc alkaline peralumious and enriched significantly in lile extremely low sr ba values extremely eu depletions and very low la n yb n ratios are typical for the rhyolites of cv similar to the topaz rhyolites the karaburun volcanics with the exception of the minor alkaline basaltic and trachytic lavas are mainly calc alkaline and metaluminous intermediate lavas 87 sr 86 sr ratios of the kv and dacitic samples of cv are close to each other and range from 0 708 to 0 709 while sr isotopic ratios of the rhyolites are significantly high and variable 0 724 0 786 143 nd 144 nd ratios of the cv and kv except for the alkaline samples are similar for both sequences vary from 0 51230 to 0 51242 geological geochemical isotopic and radiochronologic data reveal that the kv and cv were formed in extensional tectonic setting but evolved by different petrological processes in different magma chambers during the neogene underplated mafic magma was injected into the crust and hybridized by mantle and crustal derived materials geochemical features and trace element modeling for the mafic members of the kv indicate that they were derived from enriched lithospheric mantle and modified by fractional crystallization from basalt to rhyolite helvaci et al 2009 unexpectedly the felsic lavas from cumaovasi region have a unique chemical composition and similar to the extension related rhyolites formed from small magma bodies our data reveal that extension related mafic inputs caused crustal anatectic melting and formed felsic melts that rapidly ascended into the upper crust the cumaovasi felsic rocks were differentiated into the highly evolved silica rich melts within the magma chambers trapped near the surface

timing kinematics and cause of aegean extension a scenario based on a comparison with simple analogue experiments abstract since the early 1970s most geodynamic models proposed for the eastern mediterranean consider that the initiation of extension in the aegean during the late middle miocene or later was a direct consequence of the westward extrusion of anatolia away from the arabia eurasia collision front in the late 1990s a few models have taken into account the increasing evidence for an earlier initiation of aegean extension arising mostly from the analysis of deformation within the various alpine metamorphic complexes of the area based largely on our own investigations we first present a review of the data that reliably constrain the minimum age for the initiation of extension in these complexes it shows that regional scale extension with a pattern of stretching orientations similar to that of the pliocene pleistocene was already strongly active in the aegean before the onset of arabian indentation into eurasia lower miocene vs middle or upper miocene this implies that the initiation of aegean extension did not result from the lateral extrusion of anatolia instead extension may have started owing to a process of gravity spreading of the continental lithosphere that had previously been thickened during alpine collision the main arguments favouring this interpretation are presented and a preliminary scenario is proposed for the neogene evolution of the eastern mediterranean in which lateral extrusion of anatolia occurred lately during southward spreading of the aegean lithosphere in order to test this hypothesis further physical experiments simulating the horizontal spreading of a continental lithosphere toward a free boundary have been carried out the analysis of various elements of the deformation field displacements strain rotations fault pattern and kinematics both in the experiments and in the aegean domain reveals an excellent agreement between the two not only do early stages of aegean extension appear to fit the gravity spreading hypothesis but so does the recent to present internal deformation of the aegean transverse e w active shortening observed in the northern aegean is commonly taken as one of the most striking pieces of evidence that aegean extension results from the lateral extrusion of anatolia the experiments indicate that such transverse shortening may equally develop as a result of pure gravity spreading associated with a pattern of faults and rotations that compares well with that of the northern aegean pure dextral shearing along some strands of the north aegean trough fault system and the related development of an asymmetric pattern of faults in the northern aegean are eventually the only features that evidently arise from the extrusion of anatolia since less than 3 ma finally we argue that during the early stages of aegean extension since at least 21 ma and until ca 11 ma the distribution of extensional strain on a regional scale has been controlled by the distribution of earlier thickening post thickening thermal weakening through partial melting of deep levels of the crust probably accounts for the localization of extensional strain within the areas of thick crust restoring the aegean in its most likely configuration at the onset of bulk crustal extension suggests that 1 the extensional strain rate remained roughly constant or has eventually decreased since the onset of aegean extension and 2 the amounts of extension before and after 16 ma have been roughly equal

metamorphic evolution of the attic cycladic metamorphic belt on naxos cyclades greece utilizing 40ar 39ar age spectrum measurements 40ar 39ar age spectrum analysis of phengite separates from naxos part of the attic cycladic metamorphic belt in greece indicates that cooling following high pressure low to medium temperature metamorphism m1 occurred about 50 ma ago phengite has 40ar gradients that suggest that part of the scatter observed in conventional k ar ages was caused by diffusion of radiogenic argon from the minerals during a younger metamorphism m2 in central naxos this metamorphism m2 has overprinted the original mineral assemblages completely and is associated with development of a thermal dome excellent 40ar 39ar plateaus at 15 0 0 1 ma 11 8 0 1 ma and 11 4 0 1 ma obtained on hornblende muscovite and biotite respectively from the migmatite zone indicate that relatively rapid cooling followed the m2 event and that no significant thermal overprinting occurred subsequent to m2 toward lower m2 metamorphic grade 40ar 39ar plateau ages of hornblendes increase to 19 8 0 1 ma concomitantly the proportion of excess 40ar in the spectra increases as well we propose that the peak of m2 metamorphism occurred beween 15 0 and 19 8 ma ago k ar ages of biotites from a granodiorite on the west coast are indistinguishable from those found in the metamorphic complex and hornblende k ar ages from the same samples are in the range 12 1 13 6 ma as the latter ages are somewhat younger than most ages obtained from the metamorphic complex intrusion of the granodiorite most likely followed the peak of the m2 metamorphism the metamorphic evolution of naxos is consistent with rapid crustal thickening during the cretaceous or early tertiary causing conditions at which supracrustal rocks experienced pressures in the range 900 1500 mpa transition to normal crustal thicknesses ended the m1 metamorphism about 50 ma ago the m2 metamorphism and granodiorite intrusion occurred during a period of heat input into the crust possibly related to the migration of the hellenic volcanic ar c in a southerly direction through the area

on the hellenic subduction zone and the geodynamic evolution of crete since the late middle miocene abstract in recent syntheses of the geodynamic evolution of the aegean area the hellenic subduction zone and in particular its initiation plays a central role two basic aspects of the recent comprehensive model put forward by le pichon angelier and co workers are a initiation of subduction along the hellenic arc is inferred to have taken place approximately 13 ma ago whereas several others have suggested approximately 5 ma and b migration of the trench system to the south southwest giving rise to an extensional regime in the back arc region which led to general subsidence and formation of the present day aegean sea new data on the structure of the upper mantle underneath the aegean area indicate that the former aspect requires modification the seismic velocity structure indicating a northward dipping slab down to a depth of at least 600 km and the depth distribution of earthquake hypocenters can not be reconciled with straightforward initiation of subduction approximately 13 ma ago estimates of about 5 ma for the time of initiation of the present subduction zone are even more difficult to reconcile assuming 400 km as an upper bound for the effect of stretching of the aegean sea and of other processes contributing to the separation of crete from the eurasian mainland we arrive at an age for the hellenic subduction zone of at least 26 ma as to aspect b geological data of crete lend strong support to the idea that on crete compressional tectonics is of much greater importance than current models imply combining geophysical and geological data we propose a modification of the tectonic evolution for the cretan segment of the hellenic arc whereas the basic process of extension caused by a migrating trench system roll back in a land locked basin remains a very useful and sound concept the tectonics of the margins of a region subject to stretching in this case crete may be more complicated than hitherto thought in our model the documented fragmentation of crete into several basins which started about 12 ma ago is not attributed to initiation of subduction but to inception of the roll back process compressional tectonics on crete is taken to be associated with deformation of the crust resulting from the overall tensional stress regime

magmatism and crustal extension constraining activation of the ductile shearing along the gediz detachment menderes massif western turkey the menderes massif of western turkey is a key area to study feedback relationships between magma generation emplacement and activation of extensional detachment tectonics here we present new textural analysis and in situ u th pb titanite dating from selected samples collected in the transition from the undeformed to the mylonitized zones of the salihli granodiorite at the footwall of the neogene ductile to brittle top to the nne gediz alasheir gdf detachment fault ductile shearing was accompanied by the fluid mediated sub solidus transformation of the granodiorite to orthogneiss which occurred at shallower crustal levels and temperatures compatible with the upper greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic conditions 530 580 c and p 2 gpa the syn tectonic metamorphic overgrowth of ree poor titanite on pristine ree rich igneous titanite offers the possibility to constrain the timing of magma crystallisation and solid state shearing at the footwall of the gediz detachment the common pb corrected 206pb 238u 206pb 238u ages and the ree re distribution in titanite that spatially correlates with the th u zoning suggests that titanite predominantly preserve open system ages during fluid assisted syn tectonic re crystallisation in the transition from magma crystallization and emplacement at 16 17 ma to the syn tectonic solid state shearing at 14 15 ma a minimum time lapse of ca 1 2 ma is then inferred between the crustal emplacement of the salihli granodiorite and nucleation of the ductile extensional shearing along the gediz detachment the reconstruction of the cooling history of the salihli granodiorite documents a punctuated evolution dominated by two episodes of rapid cooling between 14 ma and 12 ma 100 c ma and between 3 and 2 ma 105 c ma we relate the first episode to nucleation and development of post emplacement of ductile shearing along the gdf and the second to brittle high angle faulting respectively our dataset suggests that in the menderes massif the activation of ductile extension was a consequence rather than the cause of magma emplacement in the extending crust

hydrogeological and geochemical assessments of the gediz graben geothermal areas western anatolia turkey gediz graben is an important area for geothermal activity in turkey menderes massif rocks consisting of gneisses schists marbles and granodiorite comprise the aquifers of the geothermal systems neogene terrestrial sediments made up mainly of sandy and clayey conglomerates cap the systems gediz graben geothermal areas are physically divided into seven main groups turgutlu urganli sart camur caferbeyli ufuruk kursunlu kavaklidere sazdere and alasehir geothermal areas the third highest aquifer in turkey temperature 182 c after kizildere 242 c and germencik 232 c was discovered in the kavaklidere sazdere area the thermomineral waters of the gediz graben geothermal areas have outlet temperatures of 25 95 c and an electrical conductivity of 874 6020 s cm mineralization is mostly dominated by na 188 2027 ppm and hco3 544 2950 ppm kavaklidere sazdere area shows the highest boron content among the entire geothermal aquifers of turkey major geochemical processes for thermomineral waters are carbonate and silicate dissolution and mixing

devonian extension in northwestern newfoundland 40ar 39ar and u pb data from the ming s bight area baie verte peninsula abstract the ming s bight group of northwestern newfoundland an outlier of humber zone continental margin rocks is entirely surrounded by ophiolitic rocks of the dunnage zone structures in the ming s bight group and adjacent units record three main phases of deformation the earliest structures relate to silurian sinistral transpression previously documented in the region two later phases of extensional deformation produced a series of dextral oblique normal shear zones and faults that now separate the ming s bight group in the footwall from ophiolitic and granitoid rocks in the hangingwall 40ar 39ar and u pb data constrain the times of oblique normal shear and cooling metagabbro in the point rousse ophiolite complex which lies in the hangingwall preserves disturbed ordovician hornblende 40ar 39ar ages whereas adjacent shear zones record devonian ages hornblendes in pacquet harbour group amphibolites within extensional shear zones mainly record 40ar 39ar ages of 390 380 ma synkinematic titanite

miocene nne directed extensional unroofing in the menderes massif southwestern turkey structural investigations in the central part of the menderes massif odemio kiraz submas sif reveal the presence of a large scale low angle extensional shear zone with a top to the n ne shear sense regional ductile deformation was accompanied by the intrusion of two syntectonic granodiorites that have been dated with the 40 ar 39 ar method one hornblende isochron age of 19 5 1 4 ma and two biotite plateau ages of 13 1 0 2 and 12 2 0 4 ma respectively constrain that extension was already active in the early miocene successive tectonic denudation of the odemio kiraz submassif resulted in the formation of a n dipping detachment fault in which ductile fabrics were severely reworked by cataclasis under decreasing temperature syntectonic neogene sediments currently exposed along the southern margin of the gediz graben were deposited in the hanging wall of the extensional fault system and were tectonically emplaced onto the cataclasites during progressive exhumation minor rotation c 15 caused southward tilting of the sediments ongoing nne directed extension created a steep normal fault that truncates the detachment fault and constitutes the southern boundary fault of the gediz graben

evolution of retreating subduction boundaries formed during continental collision retreating subduction boundaries formed where the rate of subduction exceeds the rate of overall plate convergence appear to be commonly developed features within regions of early or incomplete continent continent collision they are characterized by regional extension within the overriding plate and at their leading edge by thin skinned arcuate thrust belts that are concave towards the overriding plate as is illustrated by examples from the mediterranean region the formation of retreating subduction boundaries is intimately related to the process of continental collision during the early stages of collision retreating subduction boundaries are commonly formed by lateral ejection from zones of crustal shortening along the main collision boundary retreating plate boundaries can also form before the main collision and the associated thrust belts emplaced as precollisional accretionary assemblages because the driving mechanism for retreating subduction boundaries appears to be gravity acting on a dense subducted slab slab pull subduction usually ceases when and only when thick buoyant continental crust enters the subduction zone thus differences in the evolution and duration of retreating subduction systems can be largely attributed to the size and configuration of the deep water regions available to be subducted in some cases retreating subduction boundaries may escape into the open ocean where they form nearly isolated local tectonic systems in these systems the rate of subduction is approximately compensated by the rate of upper plate extension and migration of the system across the oceanic region may be very rapid for example the horseshoe seamounts located about 800 km offshore in the eastern north atlantic may be the active expression of an east dipping westwardly migrating retreating subduction boundary that has evolved from the betic cordillera rif system active in miocene time and may now be progressing across the atlantic at approximately 50 mm yr an analogous situation may be represented by the scotia arc system a westward dipping retreating subduction system located between the south american and antarctic plates which may have escaped into the south atlantic ocean from a zone of crustal shortening in the andes and is now progressing across the atlantic at a rate of about 80 mm yr

constraints on the kinematics of post orogenic extension imposed by stretching lineations in the aegean region abstract new kinematic data from shear zones of tertiary age in the metamorphosed basement of the aegean region in combination with published kinematic lithological and palaeomagnetic data have enabled us to determine a detailed kinematic evolution of the region during post orogenic extension in the aegean three distinct stages are recognised firstly extension of both the western and eastern aegean started in the late oligocene early miocene 36 25 ma ago initially in an 023 direction stage two started shortly after this with the division of the aegean crust into the west aegean block a coupled assemblage of small blocks bound on its northwestern and southeastern margins by the scutari pec line and mid cycladic lineament fracture zones respectively between 25 ma and 3 ma the west aegean block underwent 30 clockwise rotation whilst the eastern aegean underwent on average 19 anticlockwise rotation rotation of the west aegean block as a semi coherent block was aided by the relative coolness of the block compared to the warmer eastern aegean region as the crust thinned and rotated the nw se trending faults which characterise the west aegean block were cross cut by e w trending faults in the latest miocene pliocene the thermal front migrated westwards into the west aegean block and the mid cycladic lineament ceased activity the final kinematic stage marked the start of the subdivision of the west aegean block into two portions in the pliocene the southeastern portion nw cycladic area coupled with the sw cycladic area to form a central aegean block that started to translate southwest the northern and western portion rotated a further 10 15 clockwise whilst the southeastern rim rotated anticlockwise these data demonstrate that aegean post orogenic extension is not dominated by a single block rotation or radial spreading event but is characterised by the sequential formation and reformation of lithospheric scale blocks that have developed in response to large scale partitioning of rotational strain

how to resist subduction evidence for large scale out of sequence thrusting during eocene collision in western turkey significant along strike variations have locked large parts of the alpine subduction complex in the eastern mediterranean in the eocene and defined the end of high pressure accretion in western turkey structural analysis reveals that the anatolide belt in western turkey formed under greenschist facies metamorphic conditions in the eocene when a high pressure metamorphic fragment of the adriatic plate the cycladic blueschist unit was thrust onto the imbricated mid crustal units of the anatolian microcontinent the menderes nappes the contact between the cycladic blueschist unit and the menderes nappes the cyclades menderes thrust represents an out of sequence ramp which cuts up section towards the south the lack of alpine high pressure fabrics below the cyclades menderes thrust implies c 35 km of exhumation of the cycladic blueschist prior to its eocene emplacement on top of the menderes nappes structure and geodynamic evolution of the anatolide belt are in striking contrast to the neighbouring aegean and contradict the model of a laterally continuous orogenic zone in which the anatolide microcontinent is interpreted as an eastern extension of the adriatic plate

mesozoic tertiary structural evolution of an extensional gneiss dome the kesebir kardamos dome eastern rhodope bulgaria greece the tectonic evolution of the rhodope massif involves mid cretaceous contractional deformation and protracted oligocene and miocene extension we present structural kinematic and strain data on the kesebir kardamos dome in eastern rhodope which document early tertiary extension the dome consists of three superposed crustal units bounded by a low angle nne dipping detachment on its northern flank in bulgaria the detachment separates footwall gneiss and migmatite in a lower unit from intermediate metamorphic and overlying upper sedimentary units in the hanging wall the high grade metamorphic rocks of the footwall have recorded isothermal decompression direct juxtaposition of the sedimentary unit onto footwall rocks is due to local extensional omission of the intermediate unit structural analysis and deformational metamorphic relationships give evidence for several events the earliest event corresponds to top to the sse ductile shearing within the intermediate unit interpreted as reflecting mid late cretaceous crustal thickening and nappe stacking late cretaceous palaeocene eocene late tectonic to post tectonic granitoids that intruded into the intermediate unit between 70 and 53 ma constrain at least pre latest late cretaceous age for the crustal stacking event subsequent extension related deformation caused pervasive mylonitisation of the footwall with top to the nne ductile then brittle shear ductile flow was dominated by non coaxial deformation indicated by quartz c axis fabrics but was nearly coaxial in the dome core latest events relate to brittle faulting that accommodated extension at shallow crustal levels on high angle normal faults and additional movement along strike slip faults radiometric and stratigraphic constraints bracket the ductile then brittle extensional events at the kesebir kardamos dome between 55 and 35 ma extension began in paleocene early eocene time and displacement on the detachment led to unroofing of the intermediate unit which supplied material for the syn detachment deposits in supra detachment basin subsequent cooling and exhumation of the footwall unit from beneath the detachment occurred between 42 and 37 ma as indicated by mica cooling ages in footwall rocks and extension proceeded at brittle levels with high angle faulting constrained at 35 ma by the age of hydrothermal adularia crystallized in open spaces created along the faults this was followed by late eocene oligocene post detachment overlap successions and volcanic activity crustal extension described herein is contemporaneous with the closure of the vardar ocean to the southwest it has accommodated an earlier hinterland directed unroofing of the rhodope nappe complex and may be pre cursor of and or make a transition to the aegean back arc extension that further contributed to its exhumation during the late miocene this study underlines the importance of crustal extension at the scale of the rhodope massif in particular in the eastern rhodope region as it recognizes an early tertiary extension that should be considered in future tectonic models of the rhodope and north aegean regions

the buoyancy and wind driven ventilated thermocline abstract an analytical study of the combined wind driven and buoyancy driven thermocline problem is presented the analysis is an extension of the ventilated thermocline model of luyten et al an exact solution for the ventilated region of the subtropical gyre is found under the condition that the ratio of the buoyancy flux to ekman pumping is a function of latitude alone it demonstrates the general westward shift of streamlines when the subtropical gyre is heated and the enlargement of the eastern shadow zone the flow in the shadow zone is described in most instances for the case of relatively small buoyancy flux it is shown that the shadow zone now in motion due to buoyancy forcing splits into two zones there is a broad eastward zone in which the deep flow is northeastward and a narrow zone between this branch and the ventilated fluid in which the shadow zone flow is returned in a relatively swift current nearly preserving potential vorticity for buoyancy ekman flux ratios which are nearly inde

growth destruction and volcanic facies architecture of three volcanic centres in the miocene usak gure basin western turkey subaqueous subaerial volcanism in a lacustrine setting abstract early to mid miocene extension in western anatolia related to plate tectonic motions resulted in the development of a number of normal fault bounded sedimentary basins as well as different styles and compositions of volcanic activity the usak and gure basins accumulated a thick fluvio lacustrine fill in which three distinct volcanic edifices elmadag itecektepe and beydagi and their deposits can overlap with each other and with the sediments produced by the background sedimentation in addition complete facies architectures of small volume monogenetic volcanoes have been recognised in association with the three large complex polygenetic volcanoes providing a complex mixed siliciclastic and volcaniclastic basin infill in the respective basins where volcanism took place all three volcanic centres display a complex succession of effusive and explosive volcanisms and their reworked deposits with abundant evidences of magma water interaction such as peperites for non explosive magma water interaction with the lacustrine water saturated sediment and standing water body in a large alkaline lake during the constructive phase proximal successions of pyroclastic flows pyroclastic falls and rarely surge deposits are associated with distally emplaced debris flow deposits sometimes of mixed volcanogenic and terrestrial origins and are interbedded with lacustrine sediments of the inay group all three volcanic centres then experienced a phase of volcano growth and degradation between 17 and 15 ma ago most likely related to a combination of tectonic movements on ne sw trending basement faults which triggered multiple flank collapses and volcanic debris avalanches elmadag and voluminous ignimbrite eruptions that triggered caldera formation itecektepe and beydagi volcanic centres lacustrine conditions persisted during the destruction and post destruction stages of the volcano s evolution as evidenced by indications of magma water interactions within the central collapse structures which also contain uplifted basement metamorphic rocks now exhumed in their eroded cores

structural analysis of basement tectonites from the aegean metamorphic core complex of ios cyclades greece abstract the island of ios in the cyclades aegean sea greece exposes high pressure metamorphic rocks that were subjected to miocene continental extension subsequent to the alpine collisional orogeny the pre alpine history of the lower plate of this aegean metamorphic core complex involves intrusion of granitoids into metasediments which subsequently underwent hercynian amphibolite facies metamorphism during the alpine orogeny d2 these rocks were overthrust by the cyclades blueschist nappe later the lower plate was tectonically exhumed during oligo miocene continental extension and associated plutonism final exhumation occurred as a result of the operation of a south directed crustal scale shear zone and low angle normal faults this study shows that the ios core complex reflects an intrinsic relationship between early thrusting and later extensional tectonism basement rocks have been exhumed from beneath the nappes that originally overrode them

linking microcracks and mineral zoning of detachment exhumed granites to their tectonomagmatic history evidence from the salihli and turgutlu plutons in western turkey menderes massif abstract the menderes massif western turkey is a metamorphic core complex that displays linked syntectonic plutonism and detachment faulting fabrics in s type peraluminous granites salihli and turgutlu in the detachment alasehir footwall change from isotropic to protomylonitic to mylonitic towards the structure samples from the isotropic and protomylonitic zones were imaged in transmitted light cathodoluminescence cl backscattered bse and secondary electrons se and show that these rocks contain abundant microcracks and that plagioclase grains have zoning consistent with magma mixing the granites contain fluid inclusion planes fips myrmekite replacing plagioclase and the removal of blue luminescence in k feldspar along microcracks and grain boundaries calcite and hydrous minerals commonly fill microcracks the samples record features that formed due to 1 magma crystallization and ductile deformation fips mineral zoning 2 changes in p and or t impingement and stress induced microcracks in protomylonitic rocks and 3 differences in intrinsic mineral properties radial cleavage blunted and deflected microcracks overprinted microcracks indicate exhumation during pulses the middle miocene ages of these granites reported elsewhere are similar to those from large scale extensional structures in greece s cycladic massif the menderes and cycladic core complexes may have developed simultaneously due to the widespread intrusion of subduction related granitoids

geochemistry geochronology and cathodoluminescence imagery of the salihli and turgutlu granites central menderes massif western turkey implications for aegean tectonics abstract the menderes massif western turkey is an important metamorphic core complex located in the aegean region geochemical and geochronological data from this extensional domain facilitates our understanding of large scale extension of the earth s lithosphere s type peraluminous granites salihli and turgutlu that intrude the alasehir detachment which bounds the northern edge of the central menderes massif may have been generated due to subduction of the eastern mediterranean floor along the hellenic trench in situ th pb ion microprobe monazite ages from the granites range from 21 7 4 5 ma to 9 6 1 6 ma 1 higher uncertainty in the ages is attributed to monazite common pb but the range is consistent with cathodoluminescence cl imagery that document complex textures within the samples salihli and turgutlu granites share many similar characteristics including multiple generations of plagioclase some with shocked cores plagioclase replacing k feldspar and the development of myrmekite evidence for fluid interaction and multiple generations of microcracks and microfaults the granites may have evolved from compositionally distinct magma sources as salihli samples in general contain allanite as the major accessory mineral whereas turgutlu granites contain monazite however the cl imagery document similar alteration textures the youngest turgutlu monazite grain 11 5 0 8 ma is located in the rim of a k feldspar grain close to myrmekite and the youngest salihli monazite grain 9 6 1 6 ma is located in the outer edge of an altered plagioclase crystal these ages likely time episodes of deformation as the granites were subjected to exhumation along the alasehir detachment ages reported here are similar to dates constraining extension reported elsewhere in the aegean but indicate a level of complexity when linking movement within the menderes massif to the large scale geodynamic processes that created other metamorphic core complexes in the region difficulties exist in linking the ages obtained from the granites to specific tectonic events due to the presence of secondary alteration textures generations of mineral growth and multiple episodes of deformation

aegean tectonics strain localisation slab tearing and trench retreat abstract we review the geodynamic evolution of the aegean anatolia region and discuss strain localisation there over geological times from late eocene to present crustal deformation in the aegean backarc has localised progressively during slab retreat extension started with the formation of the rhodope metamorphic core complex eocene and migrated to the cyclades and the northern menderes massif oligocene and miocene accommodated by crustal scale detachments and a first series of core complexes mccs extension then localised in western turkey the corinth rift and the external hellenic arc after messinian times while the north anatolian fault penetrated the aegean sea through time the direction and style of extension have not changed significantly except in terms of localisation the contributions of progressive slab retreat and tearing basal drag extrusion tectonics and tectonic inheritance are discussed and we favour a model 1 where slab retreat is the main driving engine 2 successive slab tearing episodes are the main causes of this stepwise strain localisation and 3 the inherited heterogeneity of the crust is a major factor for localising detachments the continental crust has an inherited strong heterogeneity and crustal scale contacts such as major thrust planes act as weak zones or as zones of contrast of resistance and viscosity that can localise later deformation the dynamics of slabs at depth and the asthenospheric flow due to slab retreat also have influence strain localisation in the upper plate successive slab ruptures from the middle miocene to the late miocene have isolated a narrow strip of lithosphere still attached to the african lithosphere below crete the formation of the north anatolian fault is partly a consequence of this evolution the extrusion of anatolia and the aegean extension are partly driven from below asthenospheric flow and from above extrusion of a lid of rigid crust

late orogenic extension in mountain belts insights from the basin and range and the late paleozoic variscan belt from two examples of orogenic domains some general mechanisms significant of late orogenic tectonic processes in mountain belts are characterized the basin and range province and the variscan belt in the french massif central have both suffered important compressional orogenic crustal thickening and the results of late orogenic processes can be observed in the field both areas are covered by deep seismic profiling providing constraints on the geometry of a crust which has been restored to a normal thickness late orogenic features from the two domains are compared at different scales and their tectonic significance for extension mechanisms is discussed at the scale of the orogenic domains the most prominent tectonic features are the metamorphic core complexes mcc which expose deformed rocks from the middle crust generally affected by high temperature low to medium pressure metamorphism partial melting and widespread granite emplacement in these mcc large scale extensional shear zones present an intense mylonitic deformation characterized by low dipping foliations and pervasive stretching lineations they show a complete evolution from early deep seated ductile deformation generally achieved under high temperature low to medium pressure metamorphism to a late shallow brittle stage characterized by cataclastic deformation the late detachment stage generally controls the development of asymmetrical extensional sedimentary basins filled by continental deposits two main geometries of mcc are defined that are characterized by differing geometry and kinematics of low angle shear zones in the first case two low angle shear zones with opposite vergence develop along the flanks of a roughly symmetrical mcc often one system is dominant over the other the second geometry characterizes asymmetrical mcc bounded by a single normal shear zone which is upwarped during uplift and doming of the core caused by tectonic denudation detailed strain analysis performed in several extensional shear zones shows that the deformation regime is heterogeneous and results from general noncoaxial flow deformation along the shear zones evolves progressively from slight homogeneous pure shear strain to intense heterogeneous noncoaxial shear strain strain distribution within the lower crust is less well constrained by field observation however analogies between cocorp and ecors deep seismic reflection profiles give important constraints on crustal structure wide zones of highly subhorizontally layered lower crust and a flat high amplitude reflection moho characterize both evolved orogenic domains suggesting that major deformations and flow occur within the lower crust during extension a kinematic model involving heterogeneous crustal deformation and regional scale flow fits relatively well with late orogenic structures observed in continental domains a weak hot upper mantle allows large scale flow of lower crust material from zones of deep ductile extension to uplifted domains of upper crustal denudation heterogeneous strain is accommodated by low angle extensional shear zones from localized zones of extension in the brittle crust to ductile lower crust combined pure and simple shear occurs along localized shear zones whereas at the scale of the whole lithosphere deformation nearly corresponds to a vertical pure shear such deformation processes which affect a thick and hot crust seem to be common in both compared domains suggesting that late orogenic extensional processes are slightly dependent of the type of contractional tectonics thus as much in the andean type west american cordilleran belt as in the collision type variscan belt late orogenic processes produced similar extensional features

southern menderes massif an incipient metamorphic core complex in western anatolia turkey in the southern sector of the menderes massif north of selimiye milas augen gneisses interpreted as a deformed peraluminous granite have been dynamothermally metamorphosed and are surrounded by and intrude a regionally metamorphosed palaeozoic envelope the granitic rocks exhibit a moderately dipping mylonitic foliation and nne ssw trending mineral elongation lineation the progressive deformation of the granitic rocks produces a structural sequence typical of an extensional shear zone marked from bottom to top by a very thick extensive zone of mylonites followed in turn by brecciated mylonite and cataclasite the kinematic indicators exhibit a top to the south down dip sense of shear these structures are attributed to exhumation of the granitic rocks of the massif along a major south dipping normal sense shear zone that accommodated crustal extension during late oligocene collapse of the orogen in western turkey thus the southern menderes massif may be interpreted as the exhumed footwall of a major extensional shear zone and possibly as an incipient core complex

granitoid rocks of the southern menderes massif southwestern turkey field evidence for tertiary magmatism in an extensional shear zone recent field campaign in the southern menderes massif in southwestern turkey revealed that the so called core of the massif comprises two distinct types of granitoid rocks an orthogneiss traditionally known as augen gneisses and leucocratic metagranite where the latter is intrusive into the former and the structurally overlying cover schists these differ from one another in intensity of deformation degree of metamorphism and kinematics the orthogneiss display penetrative top to the n nne fabrics formed under upper amphibolite facies conditions during the eocene main menderes metamorphism mmm whereas foliation and stretching lineation exists in the leucocratic metagranites but are not strongly developed the leucocratic metagranites show evidence of syn to post emplacement deformation in a series of weakly developed top to the s ssw fabrics formed under lower greenschist facies conditions leucocratic metagranite bodies occur all along the augen gneiss schist contact in the southern menderes massif they are emplaced as sheet like bodies into country rocks previously deformed and metamorphosed during a top to the n nne alpine orogeny along a ductile extensional shear zone located between orthogneisses and metasediments which was possibly active during emplacement the data presently available indicate that emplacement and associated ductile extensional deformation occurred during late oligocene early miocene time these results confirm previous contentions that there are tertiary granites in this part of the menderes massif

the hengshan low angle normal fault zone structural and geochronological constraints on the late mesozoic crustal extension in south china abstract we document in this paper a significant low angle normal fault namely the hengshan detachment fault which extends more than 150 km long in nne orientation and bounds an elongated early cretaceous basin in hunan province central south china detailed structural and geochronological analyses have been conducted along its southern segment where a well exposed 3 km thick flat ductile shear zone develops along the western margin of the hengshan granitic massif this zone is featured by shallow dipping foliations of varied trend from ne to nw which bear penetrative stretching lineations varying from nw to sw trend shear sense criteria indicate top to the nw and top to the sw motions along its northern and southern parts respectively quartz c axis orientations of mylonitic rocks from the shear zone exhibit asymmetric single or crossed girdle patterns and the distributions of fabric point maxima suggest a simultaneous operation of basal and prism slips indicating a deformation temperature ranging from 400 c to 550 c one zircon u pb age of the sheared albitite and three muscovite 40 ar 39 ar ages of the mylonitic rocks indicate that the ductile shearing initiated at 136 ma and lasted till 97 ma the zircon u pb dating results of five granitic samples from the hengshan granitic pluton yield two phases of crystallization ages of 232 228 ma and 150 151 ma respectively indicating two preceding magmatic events prior to the ductile shearing in the lower plate our structural and geochronological data allow defining the hengshan massif as an extensional dome rather than a metamorphic core complex as previously predicted due to the lack of syn tectonic plutonism and the origin of detachment fault associated with the reactivation of the inherited thrust this study provides crucial evidence for understanding how the mid upper crust deformed during the process of extension which testifies to a coeval occurrence of non coaxial deformation of the ductile flow in the middle crust and brittle faulting in the upper crust it also sheds new insights into the timing of the regional crustal extension in south china and permits to constrain its onset time to be ca 136 ma

i type plutonism in a continental back arc setting miocene granitoids and monzonites from the central aegean sea greece miocene extension in the aegean sea was accompanied by the intrusion of granitoid and monzonitic magmas at upper crustal levels with increasing distance from the trench the metaluminous to slightly peraluminous i type intrusives show a systematic regional variation in their compositions medium to high k granodiorites in the wsw high k low silica granites in the central region and high k high silica granites monzonites monzogranites and composite lamprophyric monzonitic dikes in the ene the granodioritic and low silica granitic plutons comprise similar ranges of sio2 63 5 71 6 wt and initial nd sr and o isotopic values end i 7 0 to 9 8 87sr 86sr i 0 7092 0 7115 18o 9 7 11 5 but display significant differences in their chemical compositions compared with the granodiorites the low silica granites have higher abundances of large ion lithophile light rare earth and some high field strength elements initial isotopic signatures of the high silica granites in the ene end i 9 0 to 9 6 87sr 86sr i 0 7128 0 7144 18o 10 8 12 0 are slightly more crust like than those of the low silica granites in chemical variation diagrams samples from the high silica granites continue the trends defined by those from the low silica granites it is suggested that all granitoid magmas originated by dehydration melting of metaluminous older crustal sources most probably metagreywackes u pb systematics of zircon populations in conjunction with zr sio2 systematics and zircon saturation temperatures suggest a high proportion of restitic or assimilated crustal material in these magmas monzonitic to monzogranitic rocks show chemical and isotopic characteristics end i 0 8 to 3 6 87sr 86sr i 0 7059 0 7071 18o 9 4 10 6 that are significantly different from those of the granitoids a small portion of an older crustal component in these magmas is indicated by u pb systematics of zircon populations lamprophyric dikes display chemical and isotopic signatures end i 0 5 87sr 86sr i 0 7044 18o 8 9 that are compatible with an origin from either a mantle source previously enriched by slab derived hydrous fluids melts as suggested by negative nb ta anomalies or a new k rich basaltic underplate abundant composite dikes indicate the coexistence of and mingling mixing between lamprophyric melts and monzonitic magmas

geology and petrology of the simav magmatic complex nw anatolia and its comparison with the oligo miocene granitoids in nw anatolia implications on tertiary tectonic evolution of the region the oligo miocene granitic plutons and their related volcanic subvolcanic successions form a nw se trending magmatic belt along the northern border of the menderes massif this belt evolved within a nappe package consisting of the menderes metamorphics sakarya continent afyon zone and tavsanli zone and also intruded this nappe package the ezine evciler eybek kozak alacam koyunoba egrigoz and the baklan plutons emplaced along this belt and show similarities in their internal structures emplacement mechanisms and petrological characteristics these different granitic plutons cut and stitch various combinations of the nappe package of the above mentioned tectonic belts and evolved during and following the alpine collision they all show characteristic map patterns of shallow seated plutons and range from granite to monzogranite the granitic plutons display calc alkaline i type and post collisional geochemical characteristics the egrigoz koyunoba plutons and their subvolcanic volcanic phases simav magmatic complex were studied in detail the geochemical characteristics and field occurences of the simav magmatic complex were compared to the other magmatic associations in western anatolia and it was determined that it is of collisional origin and not related to an extensional tectonic regime as suggested in some recent studies

regional implications of geochemistry and style of emplacement of miocene i type diorite and granite delos cyclades greece abstract the miocene plutons of the cyclades were emplaced in a subduction setting during regional back arc extension of continental crust that led to flat lying mid crustal detachment faulting mapping of the island of delos shows that quartz diorite and tonalite were emplaced as dykes in country rock of schist and marble within shear zones parallel to the extension direction mafic magmas were followed by numerous small batches of felsic magma with magmatic and ductile deformation synchronous with magma emplacement late granite dykes occupy brittle fractures in the more deformed rocks mafic and intermediate rocks show a bimodal distribution of incompatible trace elements with one group of broadly tholeiitic character and the other with substantial enrichment in sr nb and hfse but low th and ba these differences appear to be inherited from two distinct mafic sources that are different from the mafic source for the plutons of the eastern cyclades voluminous granodiorite results from these mafic magmas fractionating and or mixing with felsic crustal material some of which was derived by anatexis of a sedimentary protolith indicated by high b and mn some late granites appear derived from partial melting of hercynian paragneiss regionally the shear zones appear to be feeders to more extensive granitic plutons located at space produced at ramps in detachment fault zones the shear zones parallel the mid cycladic lineament a broad zone of displacement between two crustal blocks rotating in opposing directions as rollback took place at the hellenic subduction zone distinctive geochemical features in miocene igneous rocks suggests that these two blocks had quite different geological histories the localisation of plutonism and core complexes near the mid cycladic lineament suggests that this crustal scale shear played a role in bringing subduction derived magmas to mid crustal levels the heat supplied by the mafic magmas promoted ductile deformation high in the crust where extension was concentrated leading to the formation of core complexes the regional extension resulted in progressive shallowing of the position of the granite solidus within the crust leading to welding of the mid cycladic lineament which is no longer seismically active

dependence of active normal fault dips on lower crustal flow regimes two key questions are raised by the presence in the basin and range province of subhorizontal normal faults which were active in and around the miocene first how did they develop when their existence seems to be precluded by elementary rock mechanics arguments second if they did slip in the recent geological past why do normal faults now active in the brittle upper crust have steeper dips both in the western usa and elsewhere one may now answer both questions by considering the stress field in regions where the isostatic response during extension involves horizontal flow in the plastic lower crust this stress tensor will have inclined principal axes making it possible for normal faults to form with either very steep or subhorizontal dips depending on the sense of flow this can be controlled by environmental conditions which influence rates of hanging wall sedimentation and footwall erosion and thus determine lateral variations in lithostatic pressure in the lower crust regional scale lateral variations in the geothermal gradient caused by subduction can also influence lower crustal flow regimes in adjacent zones of continental extension enabling extension to occur on low angle normal faults dipping away from the active continental margin

the effects of lower crustal strength and preexisting midcrustal shear zones on the formation of continental core complexes and low angle normal faults to investigate the formation of core complexes and low angle normal faults we devise thermo mechanical simulations on a simplified wedge like orogenic hinterland that has initial topography moho relief and a preexisting mid crustal shear zone that can accommodate shear at very low angles 20 we mainly vary the strength of the lower crust and the frictional strength of the preexisting mid crustal shear zone we find that the strength of the lower crust and the existence and strength of a preexisting shear zone significantly affect the formation and evolution of core complexes with increasing lower crustal strength we recognize varying extensional features with decreasing exhumation rate these are characterized by bivergent metamorphic massifs classic cordilleran metamorphic core complexes multiple consecutive core complexes or boudinage structures and a flexural core complex underlined by a large subsurface low angle detachment fault with a small convex curvature topographic loading and mantle buoyancy forces together with divergent boundaries drive a regional lower crustal flow that leads to the exhumation of the lower crust where intensive upper crustal faulting induces strong unloading the detachment fault is a decoupling zone that accommodates large displacement and accumulates sustained shear strain at very low angle between upper and lower crust though the regional stress is largely andersonian we find non andersonian stress in regions adjacent to the preexisting shear zone and those with high topographic gradient our new models provide a view that is generally consistent with geological and geophysical observations on how core complexes form and evolve

from palaeotectonics to neotectonics in the neotethys realm the importance of kinematic decoupling and inherited structural grain in sw anatolia turkey abstract in order to asses young i e neotectonic fault kinematics and the relation with plate tectonic processes in sw turkey we focused on the questions 1 what produced the structural grain i e how and when are faults generated 2 what was is the kinematic behaviour of these faults and 3 during which period s were these faults active firstly the distribution of faults has been investigated using a lineament analysis performed on satellite imagery and digital elevation models we define five main tectonic domains in sw turkey 1 and 2 the northern and southern western anatolian extensional provinces 3 the eastern hellenic arc including rhodes island and the submarine anaximander mountains 4 the lycian taurides and 5 the western limb of the isparta angle lineament analysis reveals dominance of three lineament groups i e nne ene and wnw trending in all identified domains variations in the relative importance of lineament groups exist and are attributed to the specific tectonic evolution of each domain a synthesis of recently published field data shows that the onset of activity of related fault groups is neither synchronous nor uniform the structural grain for the neotectonic deformation in sw turkey is formed during the last stage of palaeotectonic deformation stage 1 which is dominated by the onset of the menderes massif exhumation along a top n major detachment the datca break away fault seyitoglu g isik v and cemen i 2004 complete tertiary exhumation history of the menderes massif western turkey an alternative working hypothesis terra nova 16 358 364 and related se ward sliding of the lycian nappes in the footwall of this fault this stage is characterized by spatially variable types of deformation that are delineated by from nw to se the datca fault around the menderes lycian contact zone and the lycian frontal thrust zone respectively the kinematic decoupling along these structures explains the co existence of top n detachment type extension in the western anatolian extensional province and ongoing nappe emplacement and piggy back development in the lycian taurides the decoupling also explains the lateral complexity of deformation associated with later neotectonic deformation from late miocene onward stage 2 nne ssw extension dominated the western anatolian extensional province influenced by combined anatolian extrusion and hellenic subduction roll back contemporaneously bidirectional ese wnw and nne ssw extension controls the lycian taurides due to the effects of hellenic arc expansion superposed on extrusion roll back extension the zone of kinematic decoupling is characterized by structural complexity with local transpressional features during stage 3 post late pliocene the same types of extension prevail in the western anatolian extensional province and the lycian taurides although a third tectonic regime becomes gradually more important this regime is associated with a tectonic escape in the hellenic arc that induced forearc slivers to be sheared of the expanding arc along mostly sinistrally displacing ene trending strike slip zones several of these zones have been identified in the coastal zones of sw turkey either through recent seismicity or field observations and are especially focused in the lycian taurides domain here they form what is classically referred to as the fethiye burdur fault zone which becomes gradually penetrated from the sw by oblique or strike slip zones exemplifying the time transgressive nature of the tectonic escape mechanism zones of kinematic decoupling remain persistent throughout the entire early miocene recent tectonic evolution of sw turkey and explain the existence of differently deforming tectonic domains

neogene brittle detachment faulting on kos e greece implications for a southern break away fault of the menderes metamorphic core complex western turkey abstract the southern limit of the menderes metamorphic core complex has recently beenproposed to be formed by an oligocene early miocene top to the north breakaway detachmentfault the datc a kahle fault running across the lycian nappes in southwestern turkey provinga breakaway detachment fault as opposed to a simple local high angle normal fault is generallyhamperedbyabsenceofametamorphiccontrastbetweenhangingwallandfootwall theislandofkos lies close to the inferred southern breakaway fault it exposes permo carboniferous anchi metamorphic rocks intruded and contact metamorphosed at upper crustal levels by a 12 ma oldmonzonite during or close to peak burial conditions here we show that exhumation of theserocks occurred along a top to the north brittle extensional detachment fault underneath uppermesozoicandpalaeogenenon metamorphiccarbonatesafter12 ma andthatany undocumented earlier extension did not lead to signi cant exhumation of the permo carboniferous rocks kosshould thus be placed within the cyclades menderes extensional province since 12 ma theage of exhumation is younger than the proposed activity of the breakaway fault the existence ofwhich we cannot corroborate we conclude that the brittle detachment of kos cannot be straight forwardly correlated to any ductile to brittle detachments of the menderes or eastern cycladicmetamorphic corecomplexes furthertothenorthandmay represent a relativelyisolatedstructure

a comparison of geodetic and finite strain pattern in the aegean geodynamic implications abstract a comparison of the active strain pattern of the aegean constrained by global positioning system measurements and the oligo miocene finite strain field shows some striking similarities in terms of direction and rates of extension the geometry of extension at crustal scale is also very similar with north dipping normal faults connecting near the brittle ductile transition to shallow north dipping shear zones this pattern of extension is not significantly modified by the recent extrusion of the motion of anatolia and aegea the persistence over more than 25 myr of the same pattern of extension suggests that the cause for extension resides within the aegean lithosphere gravitational collapse allowed by extensional boundary conditions after 30 ma slab retreat is the primary cause for post orogenic extension in the aegean and western anatolia

the hellenic subduction zone a tomographic image and its geodynamic implications new tomographic images of the hellenic subduction zone demonstrate slab penetration in the aegean upper mantle to depths of at least 600 km beneath greece the lower part of the slab appears to be detached at a depth of about 200 km whereas it still seems to be unruptured beneath the southern aegean schematically we derive minimum time estimates for the duration of the hellenic subduction zone that range from 26 to 40 ma this is considerably longer than earlier estimates which vary between 5 and about 13 ma

syn rift sedimentation and structural development of the gediz and buyuk menderes graben western turkey the buyuk menderes and gediz graben of western turkey developed during miocene to recent extension in the aegean region new mapping of structures and sedimentary lithofacies in exhumed basin fill strata is used to reconstruct the evolution of the graben field evidence shows that extension was primarily accommodated by tilted fault blocks 0 2 0 8 km wide bounded by planar faults with some modification by antithetic faulting the basins are faulted on both margins although they are highly asymmetric with dominant 9footwall9 margins characterized by steeper topography and greater thicknesses of exhumed strata within exhumed graben fill sequences lacustrine axial fluvial and laterally derived sedimentary facies can be identified palaeocurrent orientations divergent wedge geometries and intra basin unconformities all indicate that exposed sediments are syn tectonic the present day map patterns demonstrate that the position of graben bounding faults has migrated basinward with time as a result large scale erosion and recycling of the uplifted basin fill have created extensive footwall derived alluvial fans these displace the axial drainage towards the hanging wall margins away from the locus of greatest subsidence

horizontal contraction or horizontal extension heterogeneous late eocene and early oligocene general shearing during blueschist and greenschist facies metamorphism at the pennine austroalpine boundary zone in the western alps mylonitic structures related to two orogenic events are described from the upper and lower contacts of the combin zone and the immediately overlying upper austroalpine dent blanche nappe mont mary klippe and the directly underlying lower austroalpine etirol levaz slice the first event late eocene in age commenced during blueschist facies p t conditions but pre dated the peak of subsequent greenschist facies overprint the second event early oligocene in age took place during retrograde greenschist facies conditions most sense of shear indicators associated with the retrograde mylonites indicate top se shearing but subordinate top nw displacing shear sense indicators have also been mapped mylonitic top se shearing appears to be restricted to the combin zone and its upper and lower contacts within the dent blanche nappe and mont mary klippe and at the base of the etirol levaz slice structures were observed which developed during blueschist greenschist facies conditions and are in conjunction with the p t t history of these rocks inferred to be older associated kinematic data indicate a top nw shear sense comparable blueschist greenschist facies shear sense indicators have not been observed in the combin zone nonetheless the foliation in the combin zone shows a progressive evolution from blueschist facies to greenschist facies to retrograde greenschist facies conditions this indicates that the combin zone and the immediately over and underlying austroalpine units shared a common tectono metamorphic evolution since the late eocene finite strain data reveal oblate strain fabrics which are thought to result from a true flattening strain geometry flow path modelling reveals a general non coaxial deformation regime and corroborates significant departures from a simple shear deformation in the study area mylonitic top se shearing in the combin zone is attributed to early oligocene backfolding and backthrusting of the mischabel phase temperature time curves suggest slight reheating in the monte rosa nappe underneath and cooling in the dent blanche nappe above the combin zone hence confirming a thrust interpretation for this event the top nw displacing structures are thought to result from late eocene emplacement of the dent blanche nappe and the combin zone onto the middle pennine barrhorn series along the combin fault as related structures initiated during mildly blueschist facies conditions in the dent blanche nappe and the underlying combin zone and both were emplaced together onto the greenschist facial barrhorn series it is concluded that the structures developed as the nappes moved upward relative to the earth s surface thus the combin fault is regarded as a thrust the geometry of this structure indicates that the combin fault is an out of sequence thrust that locally cut down section hence top nw out of sequence thrusting caused local thinning of the metamorphic structural section in association with horizontal shortening out of sequence thrusts cutting down section and back thrusts offer the possibility of explaining the pronounced break in the grade of metamorphism across the combin fault i e the contact between the eclogite facial zermatt saas zone and the overlying lower grade combin zone by contractional deformation

reconciling the geological history of western turkey with plate circuits and mantle tomography abstract we place the geological history since cretaceous times in western turkey in a context of convergence subduction collision and slab break off to this end we compare the west anatolian geological history with amounts of africa europe convergence calculated from the atlantic plate circuit and the seismic tomography images of the west anatolian mantle structure western turkish geology reflects the convergence between the sakarya continent here treated as eurasia in the north and africa in the south with the anatolide tauride block atb between two strands of the neotethyan ocean convergence between the sakarya and the atb started at least 95 90 myr ago marked by ages of metamorphic soles of ophiolites that form the highest structural unit below sakarya these are underlain by high pressure low temperature metamorphic rocks of the tavsanli and afyon zones and the oren unit which in turn are underlain by the menderes massif derived from the atb underthrusting of the atb below sakarya was since 50 ma associated with high temperature metamorphism and widespread granitic magmatism thrusting in the menderes massif continued until 35 ma after which there is no record of accretion in western turkey plate circuits show that since 90 ma 1400 km of africa europe convergence occurred of which 700 km since 50 ma and 450 km since 35 ma seismic tomography shows that the african slab under western turkey is decoupled from the african plate this detached slab is a single coherent body representing the lithosphere consumed since 90 ma there was no subduction re initiation after slab break off atb collision with europe therefore did not immediately lead to slab break off but instead to delamination of subducting lithospheric mantle from accreting atb crust while staying attached to the african plate this led to asthenospheric inflow below the atb crust high temperature metamorphism and felsic magmatism slab break off in western turkey probably occurred 15 myr ago after which overriding plate compression and rotation accommodated ongoing africa europe convergence slab break off was accommodated along a vertical ne trending subduction transform edge propagator step fault zone accelerating southwestward slab retreat of the aegean slab the se aegean slab edge may have existed already since early miocene times or before but started to rapidly roll back along the southeastern aegean step in middle miocene times penetrating the aegean region in the pliocene

pattern and kinematic polarity of late mesozoic extension in continental ne asia perspectives from metamorphic core complexes 1 late mesozoic extension in ne asia resulted in the development of a large extensional province metamorphic core complexes mccs are the major features in this province and have 40ar 39ar ages of 130 110 ma for the mylonites and u pb zircon ages of 150 110 ma for the integral granitic intrusions based on this and previous studies this paper summarizes major characteristics of these mccs and recognizes a regional kinematic shear sense most mccs in the transbaikalia region sino mongolia border tract and the northwest central portion of the north china craton ncc show a top to the southeast se shear whereas those in the eastern and southern ncc locally underwent top to the northwest nw shear the three largest basins songliao huabei and ordos in north china are located in the transitional zone between domains of opposing shear sense we interpret the extension in the transbaikalia sino mongolia tract and northwestern part of the ncc to reflect late orogenic collapse of thickened crust following middle late jurassic collision along the okhotsk suture the southeastward extension is probably controlled by crustal scale top to the se tangential shear the transition from contraction to extension is marked by detachment faults that nucleated as extensional crenulation cleavage ecc i e c in sub horizontal ductile shear zones late in orogenic crustal thickening the combined effect of gravitational loading and thermal uplifting is considered to be the origin of the late or post orogenic collapse the top to the nw extension in the ne of the ncc might reflect antithetic sub extensional zones or mesozoic back arc extension as a far field effect of cretaceous pacific plate subduction

exhumation history of the aydin range and the role of the buyuk menderes detachment system during bivergent extension of the central menderes massif western turkey the central menderes massif western turkey is a prominent example of symmetrical exhumation of a core complex it comprises the bozda and aydin ranges which represent the footwalls of the north dipping gediz detachment and the south dipping buyuk menderes detachment respectively in contrast to the gediz detachment the role of the buyuk menderes detachment during late cenozoic extension and exhumation of the central menderes massif is less well resolved here we present results from structural and geological mapping as well as new fission track and u th he data to show that two low angle normal faults contributed to the exhumation of the aydin range our data indicate that the sustained activity of the buyuk menderes detachment since the early miocene is followed by the onset of faulting along the previously unrecognized demirhan detachment which is situated in the hanging wall of the buyuk menderes detachment in the latest miocene pliocene thermokinematic modelling of cooling ages from the footwalls of the buyuk menderes and demirhan detachments yielded exhumation rates of c 0 5 and c 0 4 km ma 1 respectively apatite fission track ages from the demirhan detachment indicate a slip rate of c 2 km ma 1 during the pliocene high angle normal faulting along the modern buyuk menderes graben commenced in the quaternary supplementary material further results of thermal history modelling are available at https doi org 10 6084 m9 figshare c 4392905

rifting and shallow dipping detachments clues from the corinth rift and the aegean the corinth rift is superimposed on the hellenic nappe stack that formed at the expense of the apulian continental crust above the subducting african slab extension started in the pliocene and the major steep normal faults that control the geometry of the present day rift were born very recently some 600 kyr ago only they root into a shallow dipping zone of microseismicity recorded near the base of the upper crust the significance of this seismogenic zone is debated considering the northward dip of the zone of microseismicity the depth of microearthquakes and their focal mechanisms we observe a strong similarity with the northern cycladic detachments in terms of expected pressure temperature conditions and kinematics we herein show 1 that the formation of the corinth rift can be considered a part of a continuum of extension that started some 30 35 ma in the aegean and that was recently localised in a more restricted area 2 that the present day structure and kinematics of the corinth rift can be explained with a series of decollements relayed by steeper ramps that altogether formed a mechanically weak crustal scale detachment and 3 that the deformation fluid behaviour and metamorphic features seen in the northern cycladic metamorphic core complexes can be good analogues of the processes at work below the corinth rift

high pressure metamorphism in the aegean eastern mediterranean underplating and exhumation from the late cretaceous until the miocene to recent above the retreating hellenic subduction zone 1 we report 40ar 39ar ages from various tectonic units in the aegean and westernmost turkey on the basis of published geochronologic data and our 40ar 39ar ages we propose that the aegean is made up of several high pressure units which were successively underplated from the late cretaceous until the miocene ages for high pressure metamorphism range from 80 83 ma in parts of the vardar izmir ankara suture zone in the north to 21 24 ma for the basal unit in the cyclades and the external high pressure belt on crete in the south published seismic data suggest that high pressure metamorphism is currently occurring underneath crete younging of high pressure metamorphism in a southerly direction mimics the southward retreat of the hellenic subduction zone we propose that distinct stages of high pressure metamorphism were controlled by the underthrusting of fragments of mainly thinned continental crust and that these punctuated events were superposed on progressive slab retreat by far most of the exhumation of the high pressure units occurred early during the orogenic history in a forearc position

neotethys closure history of anatolia insights from 40ar 39ar geochronology and p t estimation in high pressure metasedimentary rocks the multiple high pressure hp low temperature lt metamorphic units of western and central anatolia offer a great opportunity to investigate the subduction and continental accretion related evolution of the eastern limb of the long lived aegean subduction system recent reports of the hp lt index mineral fe mg carpholite in three metasedimentary units of the gondwana derived anatolide tauride continental block namely the afyon zone the oren unit and the southern menderes massif suggest a more complicated scenario than the single continental accretion model generally put forward in previous studies this study presents the first isotopic dates white mica 40ar 39ar geochronology and where possible are combined with p t estimates chlorite thermometry phengite barometry multi equilibrium thermobarometry on carpholite bearing rocks from these three hp lt metasedimentary units it is shown that in the afyon zone carpholite bearing assemblages were retrogressed through greenschist facies conditions at c 67 62 ma early retrograde stages in the oren unit are dated to 63 59 ma in the kurudere nebiler unit hp mesozoic cover of the southern menderes massif hp retrograde stages are dated to c 45 ma and post collisional cooling to c 26 ma these new results support that the oren unit represents the westernmost continuation of the afyon zone whereas the kurudere nebiler unit correlates with the cycladic blueschist unit of the aegean domain in western anatolia three successive hp lt metamorphic belts thus formed the northernmost tavsanli zone c 88 82 ma the oren afyon zone between 70 and 65 ma and the kurudere nebiler unit c 52 45 ma the southward younging trend of the hp lt metamorphism from the upper and internal to the deeper and more external structural units as in the aegean domain points to the persistence of subduction in western anatolia between 93 90 and c 35 ma after the accretion of the menderes tauride terrane in eocene times subduction stopped leading to continental collision and associated barrovian type metamorphism because by contrast the aegean subduction did remain active due to slab roll back and trench migration the eastern limb below southwestern anatolia of the hellenic slab was dramatically curved and consequently teared it therefore is suggested that the possibility for subduction to continue after the accretion of buoyant e g continental terranes probably depends much on palaeogeography

petrology mineral chemistry and sr nd pb isotopic compositions of granitoids in the central menderes metamorphic core complex constraints on the evolution of aegean lithosphere slab abstract plutonic associations in the central menderes metamorphic core complex are suitable rocks in order to understand the magma forming processes in extended terrains syn extensional salihli and turgutlu granitoids have granodioritic composition and contain monzonitic and monzodioritic microgranular enclaves they are transitional metaluminous peraluminous and high k calc alkaline in character and are located on i and s type transition salihli and turgutlu granodiorites are geochemically similar to each other while their microgranular enclave chemistry is in contrast with low sio2 and high mg values mineral chemistry data from granodiorites and mafic microgranular enclaves confirm their shallow emplacement at about 7 km geochemical modelling suggests that syn extensional granitoids were derived from the mixing of mantle and lower crustal components which were finally modified by a significant amount of upper crustal contamination and fractional crystallization processes at shallow crustal levels early middle miocene syn extensional granitoids across the aegean region form a magmatic belt associated with roll back of the aegean lithosphere slab roll back induced magmatism together with ductile deformation in western turkey ceased after cooling of the salihli granodiorites at 12 2 ma but core complex related magmatism was continuous in the cycladic metamorphic core complex during late miocene and was followed by an active arc volcanism in the southern aegean such abrupt change from ductile to brittle mode of extension in western turkey can be explained by opening of a slab window on the aegean lithosphere slab which would lead to upwelling of fertile subslab asthenospheric mantle forming transitional and finally oib type basalts

stacking of nappes with different pressure temperature paths an example from the menderes nappes of western turkey pressure temperature p t paths have been estimated from metapelitic rocks in the lowermost cine nappe and the directly underlying bozdag nappe of the anatolide belt in western turkey peak metamorphic conditions in the lowermost cine nappe are 670 to 730 c 6 2 to 6 3 kb prograde garnet grt i growth occurred largely before and during the formation of the regional s p a foliation the suffix pa indicates a pre alpine age formation of a second garnet generation grt ii which discordantly overgrew grt i followed at 550 to 620 c 6 4 to 6 5 kb peak metamorphic conditions in the underlying bozdag nappe vary from 480 to 540 c 6 1 to 7 6 kb at the base to 610 to 660 c 8 5 to 10 8 kb at the top of the nappe and attest to an inverted metamorphic field gradient in the bozdag nappe differential thermodynamic modelling gibbs method yielded a prograde path for garnet growth during the formation of s p a because d p a structures formed during prograde metamorphism we relate them to crustal shortening which was associated with a top to the north northeast shear sense in present day coordinates this event caused deformation of the cine and bozdag nappes under different metamorphic conditions we propose that the cine nappe was heated by granitoid intrusions before being emplaced above a foreland unit we speculate that the bozdag nappe belonged to the lower parts of this foreland unit cross cutting relationships of d p a structures with dated granites indicates an age of 540 to 550 ma for this tectonometamorphic event the final juxtaposition of the cine nappe and bozdag nappes and also the inversion of the metamorphic field gradient in the bozdag nappe occurred during greenschist facies conditions during the alpine orogeny in the eocene

high pressure metasediments in central turkey constraints on the neotethyan closure history 1 the distribution of oceanic domains and continental blocks in central anatolia remains a challenge in understanding the alpine geodynamic evolution of the tethys realm the consumption of a neotethys oceanic branch at the mesozoic cenozoic boundary welded the central anatolian crystalline complex in central turkey and the anatolide tauride block in western turkey with the northerly eurasian margin whether those two regions constituted a single or two distinct continental masses is still matter of debate high pressure metamorphism has been locally evidenced in the afyon zone which was however defined as a greenschist facies metamorphic zone of the anatolide tauride block since the afyon zone composes a metamorphic equivalent of a continental margin exposed far south of the izmir ankara suture zone this encouraged us to reevaluate its metamorphic evolution in order to better understand the relation between western and central turkey our investigations reveal that the high pressure minerals fe mg carpholite and glaucophane are present in the entire afyon zone which we reconsider as a blueschist facies zone we additionally present a tectonic reconstruction stripping off the postcollisional tectonics it reveals that today s bending of the high pressure belt is consistent with an eocene collision of the anatolide tauride block around the southern edge of the central anatolian crystalline complex we argue that the central anatolian crystalline complex and the anatolide tauride block were two distinct continental masses separated by a neotethyan oceanic stripe the closure of which engendered subduction related metamorphism in the latter and arc volcanism and high grade metamorphism in the former by late cretaceous to early cenozoic

effects of plate convergence obliquity on timing and mechanisms of exhumation of a mid crustal terrain the central anatolian crystalline complex abstract apatite fission track ft ages from the central anatolian crystalline complex cacc a microcontinent within the turkish segment of the alpine himalayan orogen vary dramatically from north to south this variation correlates with differences in the obliquity of convergence of the continental fragment relative to the pontide belt for the northern cacc and the tauride belt for the southern cacc the northern cacc was deformed and metamorphosed during late cretaceous orogen normal collision and was exhumed from the mid crust to shallow crustal levels 50 ma to the present in contrast the southern cacc nigde massif was initially deformed and metamorphosed during late cretaceous contraction but subsequently developed as a metamorphic core complex in a wrench dominated regime and was exhumed to

maximum effective moment criterion and the origin of low angle normal faults abstract the origin of the low angle normal faults of metamorphic core complexes has been debated for over two decades proponents of andersonian fault mechanics have long argued that it is mechanically unfeasible for slip to occur along shallowly dipping normal faults a new theory named the maximum effective moment criterion is proposed here for their origin using an effective moment approach formulated as m eff fh where f is the force tangentially acting on the unit shear boundaries and h represents its arm the maximum value appears at angles of 54 7 with the 1 since extensional crenulation cleavages eccs and the contractional crenulation cleavages cccs occur in conjugate pairs with 110 angle between them it is suggested that they tend to be oriented in the directions of maximum effective moment the differential stress for formation of the ecc or ccc are less than that for fracturing the orientations of conjugate eccs depending on relative magnitudes of simple shear versus coaxial strain components the synthetic ecc set is much better developed than the antithetic set due to anisotropy upward propagation of the synthetic ecc set from mid crustal domains of mylonitization through strain localization and strain softening is considered an effective mechanism for the formation of the low angle normal faults of metamorphic core complexes

quantifying rates of detachment faulting and erosion in the central menderes massif western turkey by thermochronology and cosmogenic 10be exhumation of rocks in extensional tectonic settings results from a combination of normal faulting and erosion but the relative contribution of these processes has rarely been quantified here we present new low temperature thermochronological data and the first 10 be based catchment wide erosion rates from the boz dag region in the central menderes massif which has experienced nne ssw extension since the miocene the slip rate of the shallow dipping gediz detachment fault which defines the northern flank of the boz dag block is 4 3 3 0 1 2 mm a 1 as constrained by zircon u th he ages of c 4 2 ma in the footwall apatite and zircon u th he and fission track ages from the northern flank of the boz dag block yield exhumation rates of 0 6 2 km ma 1 beneath the gediz detachment whereas those on the southern flank are only 0 2 0 6 km ma 1 erosion of catchments on the northern and southern flanks proceeds at rates of 80 180 and 330 460 mm ka 1 respectively this marked contrast is a combined effect of the topographic asymmetry of the boz dag block and differences in rock erodibility if these erosion rates persisted in the past rock exhumation on the northern flank occurred predominantly by tectonic denudation whereas rocks on the southern flank were mainly exhumed by erosion

what caused the denudation of the menderes massif review of crustal evolution lithosphere structure and dynamic topography in southwest turkey the deformation of earth s lithosphere in orogenic belts is largely forced externally by the sinking slab but can also be driven by internal delamination processes caused by mechanical instabiliti

reservoir and hydrogeochemical characterizations of geothermal fields in salihli turkey abstract geothermal and hydrochemical characteristics of thermal waters in the salihli geothermal area are described in this study this geothermal area is geographically divided into five main groups kursunlu caferbey greenhouse ufuruk and sart geothermal fields in the study area the outlet temperatures of the thermal waters are between 30 and 90 c their discharges are between 2 and 80 l s in springs and the depths of wells vary between 200 and 1189 m hydrochemical analysis results suggest four different water types of na hco 3 ca mg hco 3 ca na hco 3 and ca mg so 4 in kursunlu caferbey greenhouse sart and ufuruk respectively cold waters are mainly dominated by the hco 3 and so 4 anions and na ca and mg cations results of environmental isotope and chemical analysis show that the thermal waters are of meteoric origin and the major hydrogeochemical processes show that the thermal waters may be mixing of their end members and or water rock interaction at high temperature conditions the mixed thermal waters are replenished by rainwater and or groundwater at various depths ec tritium and ec chloride plots indicated shallow and deep circulating groundwater types in the study area assessment of the various empirical chemical geothermometers and geochemical modelling suggests that the aquifer temperature in the study area is about 160 c the thermal waters are mostly supersaturated with respect to carbonate minerals calcite aragonite and dolomite at all temperatures these are likely to cause scaling problems during production and utilization of thermal water

the geological signature of a slab tear below the aegean in this paper we explore the geology of the aegean region in the miocene to identify the geological signature of a first order slab tear observed in all tomographic models from 15 to 8 ma the tear is associated spatially and timely with a fast clockwise rotation of the external hellenides alkaline volcanism high temperature metamorphic domes with a predominance of north dipping detachments and south westward migration of granitoid intrusions these features suggest a warmer geodynamic environment during the rotation and the impact of a hot mantle flow associated with the tear the 8 ma duration between the first high temperature metamorphic domes in the centre of the archipelago and the beginning of the fast rotation may correspond to the time needed for the slab to bend stretch and finally tear

polymetamorphism and ductile deformation of staurolite cordierite schist of the bossost dome indication for variscan extension in the axial zone of the central pyrenees the bossost dome is an e w trending elongated structural and metamorphic dome developed in cambro ordovician metasedimentary rocks in the variscan axial zone of the central pyrenees a steep fault separates a northern half dome cored by massif granite from an e w trending doubly plunging antiform with granitic sills and dykes in the core to the south the main foliation is a flat lying s 1 2 schistosity that grades into a steeper dipping slaty cleavage at the dome margins three major deformational and two metamorphic phases can be differentiated s 1 2 schistosity is an axial planar cleavage to w vergent recumbent folding that probably occurred in mid westphalian time peak regional metamorphism m 1 is characterized by static growth of staurolite and garnet following thermal relaxation of the previously thickened crust strong non coaxial deformation recording uniform top to the se extension during d 2 a is preserved in staurolite garnet schists in a 1 5 km thick shallowly se dipping zone in the southeastern dome a 500 m thick contact aureole m 2 was imprinted on the regionally metamorphosed rocks following the intrusion the bossost granite during d 2 b more coaxial deformation prevailed during synkinematic growth of m 2 phases in the inner part of the contact aureole around the northern part of the dome where it obliterated d 2 a fabrics progressive non coaxial deformation continued in the southeastern antiform and is recorded by late synkinematic growth of cordierite successive overprinting of the m 1 staurolite garnet assemblage by andalusite and cordierite of m 2 is preserved in the southern part the assemblage muscovite cordierite staurolite biotite is considered metastable given the low mn and zn contents of staurolite and cordierite and interpreted as the result of prograde metamorphism during decompression p t conditions during m 2 were approximately 3 kbar and 600 c pervasive crenulations and mesoscopic to regional southerly verging folds are the result of d 3 nne ssw compression post dating ductile deformation and contact metamorphism polymetamorphic assemblages of the bossost dome preserve a regionally confined zone of ese directed extensional shearing within an overall n s compressional setting exact timing of extensional shearing is not known but can be constrained by recumbent folding during the mid westphalian and granitic intrusions which confine it to late carboniferous time c 305 ma crustal scale flat lying extensional shear zones with similar orientation and time frame are observed in the hospitalet massif of the eastern axial zone this suggests that crustal extension though probably restricted by regional strain partitioning over orthogneiss or intruding granitic bodies within an overall compressive setting was not uncommon in late carboniferous time in the axial zone of the pyrenees

magma interaction processes in syn extensional granitoids the tertiary menderes metamorphic core complex western turkey abstract western turkey which forms the eastern part of the aegean region was subjected to continental extension that led to formation of metamorphic core complexes and associated syn extensional granitoids this study deals with petrogenesis of the syn extensional early miocene alacamdag ag and middle miocene salihli sg granitoids and associated mafic microgranular enclaves mme in order to better understand the time progressive evolution of the mantle sources beneath the extended continental crust in western turkey ag and sg granitoids consist of undeformed and ductility deformed granitoids together with abundant mmes they are calc alkaline to high k calc alkaline rocks that are metaluminous to slightly peraluminous mg of ag host rocks is slightly lower than that of sg host rocks ag host rocks have higher na 2 o ba rb rb la and lower al 2 o 3 cao mgo tio 2 zr y values than those of the sg host rocks ag and sg host rocks differ from those of mmes with their lower al 2 o 3 cao mgo fe 2 o 3 tio 2 sr v mg and higher sio 2 values mmes are intermediate corresponding to monzonite monzodiorite in ag and diorite in sg compositions and are more mafic with respect to their host rocks in the primitive mantle pm normalized trace element patterns host rock and mme samples have similar trace element patterns all of these rocks are enriched in large ion lithophile elements liles cs rb ba th k and sr and strongly depleted high field strength elements hfses ta nb p ti compared to the primitive mantle the isotope ratios of the syn extensional ag and sg rocks display increasing radiogenic strontium and decreasing radiogenic neodymium isotopic values for the ag and sg host rocks and mme samples are 87 sr 86 sr ag host 0 708835 0 710206 and e nd t ag host 5 36 to 7 36 87 sr 86 sr ag mme 0 709107 0 709801 and e nd t ag mme 5 36 to 7 36 87 sr 86 sr ag mme 0 709107 0 709801 and e nd t ag mme 5 55 to 6 51 87 sr 86 sr sg host 0 712200 0 712408 and e nd t sg host 8 03 to 8 61 87 sr 86 sr sg mme 0 712028 0 712351 and e nd t sg mme 7 57 to 8 48 syn extensional granitoids in western turkey were mainly affected by crustal contamination fractional crystallization and magma mixing mingling mm processes magma mixing mingling partial mixing appear to have larger affects on the compositional range of the magmas than those generated by partial melting crustal contamination and fractional crystallization mafic and felsic magmas forming syn extensional granitoids have also undergone metasomatism chemical equilibrium and diffusional exchange processes during cooling syn extensional granitoids have been derived from a hybrid magma that originated from mixing of coeval lower crustal derived felsic magma and lithospheric mantle derived mafic magmas during extensional processes

the late early miocene acipayam piggy back basin refining the last stages of lycian nappe emplacement in sw turkey abstract alluvial fan to shallow marine sedimentation in the acipayam piggy back basin took place in the hinterland zone of the se facing lycian nappe stack and constrains the age and style of late stage advance of these nappes syn orogenic sedimentation commenced in burdigalian time and is marked by coarse grained alluvial fan deposits that directly overlie mesozoic ophiolitic rocks palaeocurrent data obtained from these coarse clastic units suggest a south southeastward drainage the succession fines upwards and passes into fluvial deposits that become increasingly enriched in carbonate clasts derived from tectonically deeper seated nappes suggesting progressive unroofening of the nappe pile upwards the succession is transitional to a late burdigalian early langhian marginal marine succession consisting of off shore fines with coal seams that overly both the coarse clastic sediments and basement rocks clastic sedimentation ceased at the end of early langhian based on reef carbonates that cap the succession shallow marine deposits and overlying reef carbonates confirm a marine transgression that has been reported from elsewhere in the tauride belt detailed sedimentology of the acipayam basin fill succession its age and overall tectonic setting imply that during burdigalian time the succession was deposited in a piggy back basin located in the hinterland zone of actively moving thrust sheets we propose a model in which thick skinned thrusting invoked inversion of early extensional faults in the autochthon and may explain the generation of large open folds with thick sedimentary sequences in their core the formation of these large folds may have importantly influenced the frontal accretion such that active shortening moved into the hanging wall resulting in episodic nappe advanced of structurally higher nappes in a mode similar to thin skin thrusting the tectonosedimentary evolution of the acipayam piggy back is strongly dependent on its position relative to the hinge of the large open fold the absence of any compressional signatures in the basin fill succession indicates that these thrust translations ceased shortly after aquitanian time by serravallian the succession was interrupted and the region was uplifted to its present elevation probably by gravitationally isostatic orogenic rebound of the nappe stack after these episodes tectonic extension predominated and the succession became dissected by nappe front parallel normal faults that bound the present cameli basin

long plio pleistocene terrestrial record of climate change and mammal turnover in southern spain abstract cyclostratigraphic analysis of the pliocene zujar section guadix baza basin southeastern spain has enabled the recognition of a number of climatically forced cycles reflecting alternating dry and wet periods peaks of aridity are recorded at ca 3 95 3 55 3 2 2 8 and 1 8 myr b p the first dry period at about 4 0 myr b p corresponds to the early ruscinian mammal age while the second arid interval at about 3 6 myr b p corresponds to the establishment of the mediterranean double seasonality the significant mammal turnover between the late ruscinian and early villanyian stages is placed between chron 2an 2n and the very base of chron 2an 1n coincident with the dry phase recognized at about 3 2 myr b p the fourth aridity maximum at 2 8 myr b p roughly coincides with the equus event in western europe and is probably related to the beginning of the glacial interglacial dynamics in the northern hemisphere finally the last dry peak at about 1 8 myr b p is probably related to the set of mammalian events characterizing the transition from the late pliocene faunas to those of the early pleistocene

late miocene ductile extension and detachment faulting mykonos greece the geometry and style of structural relations at map to microscopic scale on mykonos cyclades aegean sea greece suggests ductile extension and detachment faulting during the late miocene this island is dominated by granitic rocks that have a well developed shallowly dipping mylonitic foliation and a northeast southwest trending mineral elongation lineation kinematic indicators in these rocks exhibit a top to the northeast down dip sense of shear textural relations suggest that conditions during mylonitic deformation were greenschist to amphibolite facies and published k ar geochronology suggests a late miocene age for this deformation event mylonitic rocks lie in the footwall of a low angle fault and fault striae parallel to the elongation lineation suggest kinematic coordination between mylonitic deformation and movement along the fault translation along the fault juxtaposes younger tilted sedimentary rocks of low metamorphic grade upon the once deeper mylonitic rocks the style and geometry of deformational fabrics and map relations on this island are strikingly similar to those observed in metamorphic core complexes of the western united states

bivergent extension in orogenic belts the menderes massif southwestern turkey the central menderes massif is characterized by an overall dome shaped foliation pattern and a north northeast trending stretching lineation the asymmetry of shear bands and quartz c axis fabrics on either side of the structural dome demonstrate a top to thenorth northeastshearsenseinthenorthernpartandatoptothesouth southwestshear sense in the southern part of the submassif i e a bivergent downdip movement this suggests a symmetric collapse of the alpine menderes orogenic belt along two extensional shearzones conjugateshearbandsandsymmetricquartzc axisfabricsintheeast trendingtransitionzonedemonstrateacoaxialdeformationbetweenthetwoextensiondomains bivergent extension in the menderes massif is in contrast to asymmetric extension in the aegeansea here thestill activehellenicsubductionzoneevolvedfromanadvancingplate boundary associated with crustal thickening into a retreating plate boundary in oligocene miocene time southward rollback of the subducting plate during continuous northward subduction allowed asymmetric top to the north northeast extension in the back arc region during the exhumation of the cycladic core complexes in western turkey the arrival of the thick continental crust of the menderes massif halted subduction and probably caused the symmetric collapse of the massif because the high potential energy of the thickened crust was no longer supported by subduction

high altitude plio quaternary fluvial deposits and their implication on the tilt of a horst western anatolia turkey abstract this study investigates the origin and regional tectonic implications of high altitude plio quaternary fluvial deposits developed over the bozdag horst which is an important structural element within the horst graben system of western anatolia turkey a total of 23 deposits occur near the modern drainage divide comprising fluvial to occasionally lacustrine deposits the deposits are all elongated in n s direction with a width length ratio of 1 10 the largest of them is of 13 km in length with a maximum observable thickness of about 100 110 m morphological lithological deformational characteristics of these deposits and the drainage system of the area all suggest that the deposits were formed due to uplift and southward tilting of the bozdag horst this tilting which is estimated as 1 2 to 2 2 caused accumulation of the stream load along channels flowing from south to north all the deposits were later dissected by the same streams with the exception of one deposit which still preserves its original lake form these deposits are of quaternary age which corresponds to the latest n s directed extensional tectonic phase in the region