Collision Chronology Along the İzmir‐Ankara‐Erzincan Suture Zone: Insights From the Sarıcakaya Basin, Western Anatolia

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2019 American Geophysical Union.Debate persists concerning the timing and geodynamics of intercontinental collision, style of syncollisional deformation, and development of topography and fold‐and‐thrust belts along the >1,700‐km‐long İzmir‐Ankara‐Erzincan suture zone (İAESZ) in Turkey. Resolving this debate is a necessary precursor to evaluating the integrity of convergent margin models and kinematic, topographic, and biogeographic reconstructions of the Mediterranean domain. Geodynamic models argue either for a synchronous or diachronous collision during either the Late Cretaceous and/or Eocene, followed by Eocene slab breakoff and postcollisional magmatism. We investigate the collision chronology in western Anatolia as recorded in the sedimentary archives of the 90‐km‐long Sarıcakaya Basin perched at shallow structural levels along the İAESZ. Based on new zircon U‐Pb geochronology and depositional environment and sedimentary provenance results, we demonstrate that the Sarıcakaya Basin is an Eocene sedimentary basin with sediment sourced from both the İAESZ and Söğüt Thrust fault to the south and north, respectively, and formed primarily by flexural loading from north‐south shortening along the syncollisional Söğüt Thrust. Our results refine the timing of collision between the Anatolides and Pontide terranes in western Anatolia to Maastrichtian‐Middle Paleocene and Early Eocene crustal shortening and basin formation. Furthermore, we demonstrate contemporaneous collision, deformation, and magmatism across the İAESZ, supporting synchronous collision models. We show that regional postcollisional magmatism can be explained by renewed underthrusting instead of slab breakoff. This new İAESZ chronology provides additional constraints for kinematic, geodynamic, and biogeographic reconstructions of the Mediterranean domain

Chronology of subduction and collision along the İzmir-Ankara suture in Western Anatolia: records from the Central Sakarya Basin

Western Anatolia is a complex assemblage of terranes, including the Sakarya Terrane and the Tauride-Anatolide Platform that collided during the late Cretaceous and Palaeogene (80–25 Ma) after the closure of the Izmir-Ankara Ocean. Determining the precise timing at which this ocean closed is particularly important to test kinematic reconstructions and geodynamic models of the Mediterranean region, and the chronology of suturing and its mechanisms remain controversial. Here, we document the Cretaceous-Eocene sedimentary history of the Central Sakarya Basin, along the northern margin of the Neotethys Ocean, via various approaches including biostratigraphy, geochronology, and sedimentology. Two high-resolution sections from the Central Sakarya Basin show that pelagic carbonate sedimentation shifted to rapid siliciclastic deposition in the early Campanian (~ 79.6 Ma), interpreted to be a result of the build-up of the accretionary prism at the southern margin of the Sakarya Terrane. Rapid onset of deltaic progradation and an increase in accumulation rates in the late Danian (~ 61 Ma), as well as a local angular unconformity are attributed to the onset of collision between the Sakarya Terrane and the Tauride-Anatolide Platform. Thus, our results indicate that though deformation of the subduction margin in Western Anatolia started as early as the Campanian, the closure of the İzmir-Ankara Ocean was only achieved by the early Palaeocene. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.National Science Foundation: EAR-1543684 104Y153 Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştirma KurumuThis work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) under Grant 104Y153; National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant EAR-1543684

The Geodynamic Implications of Passive Margin Subduction in Northwest Turkey

International audienceThe number of subduction zones that facilitated the northward translation of the Anatolide-Tauride continental terrane derived from Gondwana to the southern margin of Eurasia at the longitude of western Turkey is debated. We hypothesized that if two north dipping subduction zones facilitated incipient collision in western Turkey, a late Cretaceous arc would have formed within the Neotethys and along the southern margin of Eurasia. To determine if an island arc formed within the Neotethys we investigated the sedimentary record of the Central Sakarya basin, which was deposited along the southern margin of Eurasia from 85 to 45 million years ago. Detrital zircon deposited within the lower levels of the Central Sakarya basin (the Değirmenözü Formation) are associated with south to north-directed paleocurrents and exhibit a unimodal late Cretaceous age peak sourced from isotopically juvenile mantle melts. Zircon maximum depositional ages from the Değirmenözü Formation cluster between 95 and 90 Ma and are 5–10 Myr older than biostratigraphic depositional ages. Between 95 and 80 Ma, a 12-unit shift from mantle to crustal derived εHf values occurs in the overlying Yenipazar Formation. We explain the absence of Paleozoic, Eurasian-sourced detrital zircon, the rapid shift from mantle to crustal derived εHf values, and lag time in terms of passive margin subduction within an isolated intra-oceanic subduction zone, whose island arc was reworked from south to north into the Central Sakarya basin during incipient collision. Thus, widely outcropping late Cretaceous plutonic rocks within Eurasia must have belonged to an additional convergent margin

Tectono-stratigraphy of the Orhaniye Basin, Turkey: Implications for collision chronology and Paleogene biogeography of central Anatolia

International audienceLocated along the İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan Suture (IAES), the Maastrichtian-Paleogene Orhaniye Basin has yielded a highly enigmatic-yet poorly dated-Paleogene mammal fauna, the endemic character of which has suggested high faunal provincialism associated with paleogeographic isolation of the Anatolian landmass during the early Cenozoic. Despite its biogeographic significance, the tectono-stratigraphic history of the Orhaniye Basin has been poorly documented. Here, we combine sedimentary, magnetostratigraphic, and geochronological data to infer the chronology and depositional history of the Orhaniye Basin. We then assess how our new data and interpretations for the Orhaniye Basin impact (1) the timing and mechanisms of seaway closure along the IAES and (2) the biogeographic evolution of Anatolia. Our results show that the Orhaniye Basin initially developed as a forearc basin during the Maastrichtian, before shifting to a retroarc foreland basin setting sometime between the early Paleocene and 44 Ma. This chronology supports a two-step scenario for the assemblage of the central Anatolian landmass, with incipient collision during the Paleocene-Early Eocene and final seaway retreat along the IAES during the earliest Late Eocene after the last marine incursion into the foreland basin. Our dating for the Orhaniye mammal fauna (44-43 Ma) indicates the persistence of faunal endemism in northern Anatolia until at least the late Lutetian despite the advanced stage of IAES closure. The tectonic evolution of dispersal corridors linking northern Anatolia with adjacent parts of Eurasia was not directly associated with IAES closure and consecutive uplifts, but rather with the build-up of continental bridges on the margins of Anatolia, in the Alpine and Tibetan-Himalayan orogens

Gypsum Karst Landscape in the Sivas Basin

The Tertiary Sivas Basin, Central Anatolia, includes one of the most outstanding gypsum karst terrains in the world, covering an area of 2140 km2. This gypsum karst significantly contributes to enrich the diversity of karst landscapes in Turkey and constitutes an excellent natural laboratory for understanding their evolution because it develops and degrades much faster than carbonate karst landscapes. The ENE–WSW trending Sivas gypsum karst terrain is 280 km long and 55 km wide. The karst landscapes are mainly developed on Oligocene gypsum deposits. Sivas gypsum karst terrain has a wide variety of well-developed karst features such as karren, different types of dolines (solution, collapse and suffosion), blind valleys, karst springs, swallow holes (ponors), karstified paleo-valleys, caves, unroofed caves, natural bridges, gorges, uvalas and poljes. Solution dolines, which riddle a large part of the area, are the most common landform. The Kızılırmak River and its tributaries drain the Sivas Basin. Therefore, Quaternary evolution of the Kızılırmak River has played an important role in the long-term evolution of the karst landscape in the basin. Karst development in some parts of the basin has also been affected by halokinetic structures