Evidences for a Late Cretaceous continental arc in the Central Pontides: new insights on alternative geodynamic reconstructions for the Neotethys in Northern Turkey

The Intra-Pontide Suture Zone (IPSZ) is the less known one among the suture zones present in Turkey. The IPSZ is well exposed along the Daday-Arac-Kursunlu and Tosya – Emirköy geotraverses where several tectonic units can be recognized. Most of these units are characterized by the occurrence of basic rocks reflecting distinct tectonic origins and geochemical signatures. The study of the basic rocks emerges as an important tool for the geodynamic reconstruction as it can reveal the occurrence of of different types of oceanic basins, the development of a magmatic arc or the presence of rifting-related magmatism. The study of the geotraverses indicates that the imbricate stack of the IPSZ consists of four distinct tectonic units whose successions bear basic rocks: the Aylı Dağ ophiolite Unit, the Arkot Dağ Mèlange and two metamorphic units, referred to as Daday and Devrekani Units. This imbricate stack is probably the result of several episodes of out-of-sequence thrusts that affected the whole IPSZ. The Aylı Dağ Unit includes an about 5 km-thick ophiolite sequence topped by the middle Bathonian to early Callovian radiolarian cherts. In addition, a metamorphic sole is present at the base of the serpentinized peridotites. The geochemical evaluation of pillow-basalts and dykes highlights subduction-related characteristics, similar to IAT- and BABB-type lavas generated above intra-oceanic subduction systems. The Arkot Dağ Mèlange consists of an assemblage of slide-blocks, with different size and lithology, enclosed in a Late Santonian sedimentary matrix. The slide-blocks also include ophiolitic lithologies, mainly represented by basalts, but gabbros and peridotites are also found. The slide-blocks of basalts display affinites to IAT- and BABB-type magmas, signifying the involvement of subduction component, whereas no MORB-like basalt have been found. The Daday unit is characterized by metasedimentary and metabasic rocks deformed under blueschist to subgreenschist metamorphic facies conditions. The metasedimentary rocks include mica-bearing schists, fine-grained marbles and black quartzites. The metabasic lithologies, on the other hand, comprise actinolite-bearing schists and Naamphibole- bearing varieties possibly derived from basaltic and gabbroic protoliths. The metabasic rocks have a wide range of chemical compositions, displaying N-MORB-, E-MORB-, OIB- BABB- and IAT-type signatures. The Devrekani Unit is represented by an assemblage of amphibolites, marbles and micaschists showing a metamorphic climax developed under upper amphibolite facies in the Late Jurassic time. The amphibolites display EMORB-, OIB- BABB- and IAT-type signatures. The geochemical signature of the studied basic rocks provide the evidence that all the basic rocks from the tectonic units of IPSZ are derived by a supra-subduction zone. This finding can provide new nsights for the recostruction of the sgeodynamic history of the Intra-Pontide domain

Burial and exhumation history of the Daday Unit (Central Pontides, Turkey): implications for the closure of the Intra-Pontide oceanic basin

In northern Turkey, the Intra-Pontide suture zone represents one of the first-order tectonic structures located between the Istanbul-Zonguldak and the Sakarya continental terranes. It consists of an east-west trending assemblage of deformed and variably metamorphosed tectonic units, including sedimentary rocks and ophiolites derived from a NeoTethyan oceanic basin, known as Intra-Pontide oceanic basin. One of these units is represented by the Daday Unit that consists of an assemblage of block-in-matrix derived from a supra-subduction oceanic crust and related deep-sea sedimentary cover of Middle Jurassic age. This setting has been acquired during the Late Jurassic by underplating at 26-38 km of depth associated with blueschist facies metamorphism (D1 phase). The following D2, D3 and D4 phases developed in a time span running from Albian to late Paleocene during the exhumation of the Daday Unit from 26-38 km to uppermost structural levels. The high geothermal gradient detected during the development of the D2 phase seems to be consistent with the exhumation of the Daday Units during a continent-arc collisional setting. The tectonic structures of the Intra-Pontide suture zone, resulting from the previously described tectonic history, are unconformably sealed by the late Paleocene - Eocene deposits. This tectonic setting was intensely reworked by the activity of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, producing the present-day geometrical relationships of the Intra-Pontide suture zone of central Pontides

The Ayli Dağ ophiolite sequence (central-northern Turkey): a fragment of Middle Jurassic oceanic lithosphere within the Intra-Pontide suture zone

The Ayli Dağ ophiolites occur as an independent tectonic unit within the Intra-Pontide suture zone, central-northern Turkey. They crop out, together with the other units of the Intra-Pontide suture zone, at the top of the Late Cretaceous-Middle Paleocene foredeep sediments of the Sakarya Terrane. The Ayli Dağ ophiolites sequence include in its lower part a mantle sequence consisting of not less than 2-3 km-thick peridotites, topped by 500-600 m-thick layered gabbros with alternating, dm- to m-thick layers of spinel-bearing dunites, melatroctolites, troctolites, ol-gabbros and leucogabbros. The gabbro sequence is overlain by a sheeted dyke complex, that shows a transition to 100-200 m-thick massive basaltic lava flows followed by 600-800 m-thick massive and pillow lavas and breccias alternating with ophiolite-bearing arenites and cherts. Geochemical evaluation of the mafic lavas and dykes reveals three distinct chemical groups that reflect melt generation within an intra-oceanic subduction system. Among these, the first group shows island-arc tholeiite (IAT)-like features, showing very-depleted characteristics (very high Zr/Nb, low Zr/Y and Nb/Y) ratios coupled with light rare-earth (LREE)-depleted chondrite-normalized patterns. The second group is more akin to back-arc basin basalts (BABB); it displays normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB)-like high-field strength element (HFSE) distribution except for depletion in Nb, and flat REE patterns. The third group is somewhat similar to the second one, displaying BABB-like characteristics, but it is more enriched in terms of absolute trace element abundances. The radiolarian cherts sampled from the top of the pillow lavas yielded less-diverse but characteristic radiolarian assemblages indicating the middle Bathonian to early Callovian ages. The Ayli Dağ Ophiolite is the first finding of back-arc type oceanic lithosphere in the Intra-Pontide suture zone. Together with previous data obtained from basalts in the mélange from the Intra-Pontide suture zone, this finding represents a proof that an intra-oceanic subduction within the Intra-Pontide oceanic basin occurred in the Middle Jurassic time

Late Cretaceous arc magmatism in the southern Central Pontides: constraints for the closure of the northern Neotethyan branches.

In the southern Central Pontides in northern Turkey the remnants of two Neotethyan oceanic basins, currently represented by the Intra-Pontide and the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan sutures, and the interposing continental microplate (i.e., the Sakarya Composite Terrane) are completely dissected by the North Anatolian Shear Zone (NASZ). Within the resulting kilometre-scale, strike-slip fault-bounded blocks, several Late Cretaceous arc-type magmatic units have been detected. In this paper, we present new geochemical data from one of these magmatic units, the Yerkuyu Unit, that forms an ENE-WSW trending 30-km long and 10-km wide lens-shaped body surrounded by the splays of the NASZ. The studied igneous lithologies have a subduction-related magmatic geochemical signature matching with another lozenge-shaped magmatic block: Tafano Unit. However, the tectonomagmatic characterization indicates that the Tafano Unit magmatism developed within a continental arc tectonic setting, while the volcanic rocks of the Yerkuyu Unit derived from oceanic arc magmatism. This finding indicates that the subducted oceanic lithosphere of the İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan branch of the Neotethys Ocean produced oceanic volcanic arcs close to the subduction zone (i.e., the Yerkuyu Unit) and beneath the Sakarya continental microplate (i.e., the Tafano Unit)

The geodynamic evolution of the Intra-Pontide suture zone, Central Turkey: evidence from the ophiolite bearing Arkot Dağ Mélange

The geological setting of Turkey can be described as an assemblage of continental terranes separated by ophiolitebearing suture zones that mark the areas where the PaleoTethyan and NeoTehyan oceanic basins were destroyed. In northern Turkey, one of the most important suture zone is represented by the Intra-Pontide one consisting of an eastwest trending belt of deformed and/or metamorphic units located at the boundary between the Istanbul-Zonguldak terrane to the north and the Sakarya terrane to the south. These units can be regarded as issued from the Intra-Pontide domain, whose geodynamic history is still a matter of debate. Along the Akpinar-Araç-Bayramoren geotraverse, located in central Turkey, an ophiolite-bearing mélange, known as the Arkot Dağ Mélange, is well-exposed along the Intra-Pontide suture zone. The Arkot Dağ Mélange can be described as a Late Santonian chaotic sedimentary deposit consisting of an up to 1000-m-thick succession of slideblocks of different sizes and lithologies enclosed in a sedimentary matrix consisting of shales, coarse-grained arenites, pebbly mudstones and pebbly sandstones. The slide-blocks, from a few meters to hectometers in size, are represented by metamorphic rocks (mainly micaschists and gneisses), by ophiolites (peridotites, gabbros, IAT and BAB basalts and cherts) and by sedimentary rocks (cherts, neritic and pelagic limestone, marly limestone and ophiolite-bearing turbidites). The youngest age among the slide-blocks has been provided by the ophiolite-bearing turbidites where a late Coniacian nannofossil assemblage has been found. The cherts have provided a wide range of ages from the Middle Trias to Late Cretaceous, whereas the fossils found in the limestone indicate Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous ages. The matrix of the Arkot Dağ Mélange, even if unaffected by metamorphism, shows deformations represented by multiple meters-thick cataclastic shear zones at the boundaries of the mélange slices or inside of them. According to its features, the source area of the Arkot Dağ Mélange was most likely a stack of continental and oceanic thrust sheets emplaced in the Late Cretaceous onto a continental margin. The data collected from the different slide-blocks suggest that the Intra- Pontide domain was characterised by an oceanic basin opened at the latest in the Early Jurassic. The opening of the Intra-Pontide oceanic basin was followed by the development of a subduction zone with a subsequent opening of suprasubduction oceanic basin in the Middle Jurassic – Early Cretaceous. The convergence in this suprasubduction oceanic basin started at the Early/Late Cretaceous boundary by an obduction process, whereas its final closure can be regarded as Late Paleocene

The Arkot Dağ Mélange in Araç area, central Turkey: Evidence of its origin within the geodynamic evolution of the Intra-Pontide suture zone.

In northern Turkey, the IntraPontide suture zone is represented by an east-west trending belt of deformed and/or metamorphic units located at the boundary between the Istanbul-Zonguldak Terrane to the north and the Sakarya Terrane to the south. These units can be regarded as issued from the IntraPontide domain, whose geodynamic history is still matter of debate. Along the Akpinar-Araç-Bayramoren geotraverse, located in central Turkey, an ophiolite-bearing mélange known as Arkot Dağ Mélange, is well exposed along the IntraPontide suture zone. The Arkot Dağ Mélange, that plays a key role in the interpretation of the geodynamic history of the IntraPontide domain, can be described as a Late Santonian chaotic sedimentary deposits consisting of an up to 1000 m thick succession of slide-blocks, with different size and lithology, enclosed in a sedimentary matrix consisting of shales, coarse-grained arenites, pebbly-mudstones and pebbly-sandstones. The slide-blocks, from few meters to some hectometers in size, are represented by metamorphic rocks (mainly micaschists and gneisses), by ophiolites (peridotites, gabbros, IAT and BABB basalts and cherts) and by sedimentary rocks (cherts, neritic and pelagic limestones, marly-limestones and ophiolite-bearing turbidites). The youngest age among the slide-blocks has been provided by the ophiolite-bearing turbidites where a late Coniacian nannofossil assemblage has been found. The cherts have provided a wide range of ages from Middle Trias to Late Cretaceous, whereas the fossils found in the limestones indicate Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous ages. The matrix of the Arkot Dağ Mélange, even if unaffected by metamorphism, shows deformations represented by multiple, m-thick cataclastic shear zones, recognized at the boundaries of the mélange slices or inside them. According to its features, the source area of the Arkot Dağ Mélange was probably represented by a continental and oceanic thrust sheets emplaced in the Late Cretaceous onto a continental margin. The data collected from the different slide-blocks suggest that the IntraPontide domain was characterized by an oceanic basin opened at least in the Early Jurassic. The opening of the IntraPontide oceanic basin was followed by the development of a subduction zone with a consequent opening of suprasubduction oceanic basin in the Middle Jurassic – Early Cretaceous time span. The convergence in this suprasubduction oceanic basin started at the Early/Late Cretaceous boundary by an obduction process, whereas its final closure can be regarded as Late Paleocene in age