Tectonic evolution of the Intra-Pontide suture zone in the Armutlu Peninsula, NW Turkey

The Armutlu Peninsula and adjacent areas in NW Turkey play a critical role in tectonic reconstructions of the southern margin of Eurasia in NW Turkey. This region includes an inferred Intra-Pontide oceanic basin that rifted from Eurasia in Early Mesozoic time and closed by Late Cretaceous time. The Armutlu Peninsula is divisible into two metamorphic units. The first, the Armutlu Metamorphics, comprises a ?Precambrian high-grade metamorphic basement, unconformably overlain by a ?Palaeozoic low-grade, mixed siliciclastic/carbonate/volcanogenic succession, including bimodal volcanics of inferred extensional origin, with a possibly inherited subduction signature. The second unit, the low-grade znik Metamorphics, is interpreted as a Triassic rift infilled with terrigenous, calcareous and volcanogenic lithologies, including basalts of within-plate type. The Triassic rift was unconformably overlain by a subsiding Jurassic–Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) passive margin including siliciclastic/carbonate turbidites, radiolarian cherts and manganese deposits. The margin later collapsed to form a flexural foredeep associated with the emplacement of ophiolitic rocks in Turonian time. Geochemical evidence from meta-basalt blocks within ophiolite-derived melange suggests a supra-subduction zone origin for the ophiolite. The above major tectonic units of the Armutlu Peninsula were sealed by a Maastrichtian unconformity. Comparative evidence comes from the separate Almacık Flake further east.Considering alternatives, it is concluded that a Mesozoic Intra-Pontide oceanic basin separated Eurasia from a Sakarya microcontinent, with a wider Northern Neotethys to the south. Lateral displacement of exotic terranes along the south-Eurasian continental margin probably also played a role, e.g. during Late Cretaceous suturing, in addition to overthrusting.     

High Resolution Optical Spectroscopy of a B-type Abundance Standard Candidate in Ori OB1—HD 35039

Astronomy Letters - We present LTE analysis of high resolution optical spectra for the B-type abundance standard candidate HD 35039 (HR 1765, 22 Ori) with an ambigous binary nature. The spectra...     

Effect of disturbed zone thickness on rock slope stability

Natural Hazards - Cut slope surfaces are affected by excavation activities and weathering agents. Disturbances on the surface can penetrate down to a certain depth. Slope stability analyses made on...     

U-Pb-Hf isotopic data from detrital zircons in late Carboniferous and Mid-Late Triassic sandstones,and also Carboniferous granites from the Tauride and Anatolide continental units in S Turkey: implications for Tethyan palaeogeography

ABSTRACT

Zircons from Carboniferous sandstones (three samples) and Mid-Late Triassic sandstones (four samples) from the Tauride and Anatolide continental units were analysed for U-Pb-Hf isotopes. For comparison, zircons were also analysed from Carboniferous granites of the Afyon Zone, Anatolides (three samples). A NE African/Arabian source is inferred for both the Carboniferous sandstones of the Taurides (Alada?) and the Anatolides (Konya Complex). In contrast, the Carboniferous Karaburun Melange is characterised by a NW African provenance. A prominent Devonian population occurs in the Carboniferous Karaburun Melange, characterised by mainly positive ε_Hf(t) values that differ significantly from those of the Devonian granites of the Sakarya continental crustal unit (Pontides). Middle-Late Triassic Tauride sandstones include minor Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic zircons. In contrast, Devonian and Carboniferous zircons are relatively abundant in Late Triassic sandstones of the Karaburun Peninsula. The Hf isotopic compositions of 25 Carboniferous-aged zircons from three samples of Mid-Late Triassic sandstone and one of Late Carboniferous age (one sample) overlap with the ε_Hf(t) values of Carboniferous arc-type granites in the Anatolides. Taking account of the available U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopic data from comparative crustal units, the Devonian zircon populations from the melanges in the Karaburun Peninsula and the Konya Complex are inferred to have a westerly source (e.g. granitic rocks of Aegean region or central Europe). A tectonic model is proposed in which Palaeozoic Tethys sutured during the late Carboniferous in the west (Aegean region westwards), leaving an eastward-widening oceanic gulf in which sandstone turbidites accumulated, including Devonian zircons.     

Methane fluxes in the southeastern Baltic Sea

New data from surveys of gas-bearing mud areas in the Gdansk Deep (southeastern Baltic Sea) were collected during four research cruises in 2009–2011. These revealed the presence of seven large pockmarks apart from the three already known, and enabled significant improvement of the existing digital map of gassy mud distribution. Based on geochemical sediment analyses, calculated diffusive methane fluxes from the upper (0–5?cm) seabed layer into near-bottom waters were highest—3.3?mmol/(m²?day)—in pockmark mud, contrasting strongly with the minimum value of 0.004?mmol/(m²?day) observed in typical, background mud. However, fluxes of less than 0.1?mmol/(m²?day) were observed in all sediment types, including pockmarks. In a newer attempt to roughly estimate budgets at a more regional scale, diffusive methane venting amounts to 280?×?10⁶?mmol/day for southeastern Baltic Sea muddy sediments. Elongated pockforms in the southern Gotland Deep, known since the end of the 1980s as pockmarks, had methane concentrations that were similar to those of gassy mud from the Gdansk Basin, and there was no geo-acoustic evidence of considerably increased gas levels.     

Subduction,ophiolite genesis and collision history of Tethys adjacent to the Eurasian continental margin: new evidence from the Eastern Pontides,Turkey

This paper presents several types of new information including U–Pb radiometric dating of ophiolitic rocks and an intrusive granite, micropalaeontological dating of siliceous and calcareous sedimentary rocks, together with sedimentological, petrographic and structural data. The new information is synthesised with existing results from the study area and adjacent regions (Central Pontides and Lesser Caucasus) to produce a new tectonic model for the Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonic development of this key Tethyan suture zone.

The Tethyan suture zone in NE Turkey (Ankara–Erzincan–Kars suture zone) exemplifies stages in the subduction, suturing and post-collisional deformation of a Mesozoic ocean basin that existed between the Eurasian (Pontide) and Gondwanan (Tauride) continents. Ophiolitic rocks, both as intact and as dismembered sequences, together with an intrusive granite (tonalite), formed during the Early Jurassic in a supra-subduction zone (SSZ) setting within the ?zmir–Ankara–Erzincan ocean. Basalts also occur as blocks and dismembered thrust sheets within Cretaceous accretionary melange. During the Early Jurassic, these basalts erupted in both a SSZ-type setting and in an intra-plate (seamount-type) setting. The volcanic-sedimentary melange accreted in an open-ocean setting in response to Cretaceous northward subduction beneath a backstop made up of Early Jurassic forearc ophiolitic crust. The Early Jurassic SSZ basalts in the melange were later detached from the overriding Early Jurassic ophiolitic crust.

Sedimentary melange (debris-flow deposits) locally includes ophiolitic extrusive rocks of boninitic composition that were metamorphosed under high-pressure low-temperature conditions. Slices of mainly Cretaceous clastic sedimentary rocks within the suture zone are interpreted as a deformed forearc basin that bordered the Eurasian active margin. The basin received a copious supply of sediments derived from Late Cretaceous arc volcanism together with input of ophiolitic detritus from accreted oceanic crust.

Accretionary melange was emplaced southwards onto the leading edge of the Tauride continent (Munzur Massif) during latest Cretaceous time. Accretionary melange was also emplaced northwards over the collapsed southern edge of the Eurasian continental margin (continental backstop) during the latest Cretaceous. Sedimentation persisted into the Early Eocene in more northerly areas of the Eurasian margin.

Collision of the Tauride and Eurasian continents took place progressively during latest Late Palaeocene–Early Eocene. The Jurassic SSZ ophiolites and the Cretaceous accretionary melange finally docked with the Eurasian margin. Coarse clastic sediments were shed from the uplifted Eurasian margin and infilled a narrow peripheral basin. Gravity flows accumulated in thrust-top piggyback basins above accretionary melange and dismembered ophiolites and also in a post-collisional peripheral basin above Eurasian crust. Thickening of the accretionary wedge triggered large-scale out-of-sequence thrusting and re-thrusting of continental margin and ophiolitic units. Collision culminated in detachment and northward thrusting on a regional scale.

Collisional deformation of the suture zone ended prior to the Mid-Eocene (~45?Ma) when the Eurasian margin was transgressed by non-marine and/or shallow-marine sediments. The foreland became volcanically active and subsided strongly during Mid-Eocene, possibly related to post-collisional slab rollback and/or delamination. The present structure and morphology of the suture zone was strongly influenced by several phases of mostly S-directed suture zone tightening (Late Eocene; pre-Pliocene), possible slab break-off and right-lateral strike-slip along the North Anatolian Transform Fault.

In the wider regional context, a double subduction zone model is preferred, in which northward subduction was active during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, both within the Tethyan ocean and bordering the Eurasian continental margin.     

Role of tectonic-sedimentary melange and Permian–Triassic cover units,central southern Turkey in Tethyan continental margin evolution

Melanges play a key role in the interpretation of orogenic belts, including those that have experienced deformation and metamorphism during continental collision. This is exemplified by a Palaeozoic tectonic-sedimentary melange (part of the Konya complex) that is exposed beneath a regionally metamorphosed carbonate platform near the city of Konya in central Anatolia. The Konya complex as a whole comprises three units: a dismembered, latest Silurian–Early Carboniferous carbonate platform, a Carboniferous melange made up of sedimentary and igneous blocks in a sedimentary matrix (also known as the Hal?c? Group or S?zma Group), and an overlying Volcanic-sedimentary Unit (earliest Permian?). The Palaeozoic carbonates accumulated on a subsiding carbonate platform that bordered the northern margin of Gondwana, perhaps as an off-margin unit. The matrix of the melange was mainly deposited as turbidites, debris flows and background terrigenous muds. Petrographic evidence shows that the clastic sediments were mostly derived from granitic and psammitic/pelitic metamorphic rocks, typical of upper continental crust. Both extension- and contraction-related origins of the melange can be considered. However, we interpret the melange as a Carboniferous subduction complex that formed along the northern margin of Gondwana, related to partial closure of Palaeotethys. Blocks and slices of Upper Palaeozoic radiolarian chert, basic igneous rocks and shallow-water carbonates were accreted and locally reworked by gravity processes. Large (up to km-sized) blocks and slices of shallow-water limestone were emplaced in response to collision of the Palaeozoic Carbonate Platform with the subduction zone. The overlying Volcanic-sedimentary Unit (earliest Permian?) comprises alkaline lava flows, interbedded with volcaniclastic debris flows and turbidites, volcanogenic shales and tuff. The complex as a whole is overlain by shallow-water, mixed carbonate–siliciclastic sediments of mainly Late Permian age that accumulated on a regional-scale shelf adjacent to Gondwana. Successions pass transitionally into Lower Triassic rift-related shallow-water carbonates and terrigenous sandstones in the southwest of the area. In contrast, Triassic sediments in the southeast overlie the melange unconformably and pass upwards from non-marine clastic sediments into shallow-marine calcareous sediments of Mid-Triassic age, marking the base of a regional Mesozoic carbonate platform. During the latest Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic the entire assemblage subducted northwards and underwent high pressure/low temperature metamorphism and polyphase folding as a part of the regional Anatolide unit.     

Adaptation of P-wave moment magnitude of Turkey’s earthquakes for early warning purpose

Journal of Seismology - The determination of an earthquake’s magnitude correctly is vital to understand the situation and prevent loss of lives and planning first organization for the rescue...