Palaeozoic-Recent geological development and uplift of the Amanos Mountains (S Turkey) in the critically located northwesternmost corner of the Arabian continent

<p>We have carried out a several-year-long study of the Amanos Mountains, on the basis of which we present new sedimentary and structural evidence, which we combine with existing data, to produce the first comprehensive synthesis in the regional geological setting. The ca. N-S-trending Amanos Mountains are located at the northwesternmost edge of the Arabian plate, near the intersection of the African and Eurasian plates. Mixed siliciclastic-carbonate sediments accumulated on the north-Gondwana margin during the Palaeozoic. Triassic rift-related sedimentation was followed by platform carbonate deposition during Jurassic-Cretaceous. Late Cretaceous was characterised by platform collapse and southward emplacement of melanges and a supra-subduction zone ophiolite. Latest Cretaceous transgressive shallow-water carbonates gave way to deeper-water deposits during Palaeocene-Eocene. Eocene southward compression, reflecting initial collision, resulted in open folding, reverse faulting and duplexing. Fluvial, lagoonal and shallow-marine carbonates accumulated during Late Oligocene(?)-Early Miocene, associated with basaltic magmatism. Intensifying collision during Mid-Miocene initiated a foreland basin that then infilled with deep-water siliciclastic gravity flows. Late Miocene-Early Pliocene compression created mountain-sized folds and thrusts, verging E in the north but SE in the south. The resulting surface uplift triggered deposition of huge alluvial outwash fans in the west. Smaller alluvial fans formed along both mountain flanks during the Pleistocene after major surface uplift ended. Pliocene-Pleistocene alluvium was tilted towards the mountain front in the west. Strike-slip/transtension along the East Anatolian Transform Fault and localised sub-horizontal Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the region reflect regional transtension during Late Pliocene-Pleistocene (<4 Ma).</p

Mantle Sources of Recent Anatolian Intraplate Magmatism: A Regional Plume or Local Tectonic Origin?

We present an extensive study of rehomogenized olivine-hosted melt inclusions, olivine phenocrysts, and chromian spinel inclusions to explore the link between geodynamic conditions and the origin and composition of Pliocene–Quaternary intraplate magmatism in Anatolia at Kula, Ceyhan-Osmaniye, and Karacadağ. Exceptional compositional variability of these products reveals early and incomplete mixing of distinct parental melts in each volcanic center, reflecting asthenospheric and lithospheric mantle sources. The studied primitive magmas consist of (1) two variably enriched ocean island basalt (OIB)-type melts in Kula; (2) both OIB-type and plume mid-ocean ridge basalt (P-MORB)-like melts beneath Toprakkale and Üçtepeler (Ceyhan-Osmaniye); and (3) two variably enriched OIB-type melts beneath Karacadağ. Estimated conditions of primary melt generation are 23–9 kbar, 75–30 km, and 1415–1215 °C for Kula; 28–19 kbar, 90–65 km, and 1430–1350 °C for Toprakkale; 23–18 kbar, 75–60 km, and 1400–1355 °C for Üçtepeler; and 35–27 kbar, 115–90 km, and 1530–1455 °C for Karacadağ, the deepest levels of which correspond to the depth of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary in all regions. Although magma ascent was likely facilitated by local deformation structures, recent Anatolian intraplate magmatism seems to be triggered by large-scale mantle flow that also affects the wider Arabian and North African regions. We infer that these volcanics form part of a much wider Arabian-North African intraplate volcanic province, which was able to invade the Anatolian upper plate through slab gaps