Sedimentation of the Neogene–Recent Alaşehir (Gediz) continental graben system used to test alternative tectonic models for western (Aegean) Turkey |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Earth Sciences, Damghan University, Damghan 36716-41167, Iran;2. Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway;3. Département de Minéralogie, Université de Genève, Genève, Switzerland;4. Geosciences Department, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083-0688, USA;1. Department Geography and Geology, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunner Str. 34, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria;2. Department of Geology, Kharazmi University, 49 Mofatteh Avenue, Tehran, Iran;3. Faculty of Earth Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, 19839-63113 Tehran, Iran;4. State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Northern Taibai Str. 229, Xi''an 710069, China;5. Department of Geology, Tarbiat Modares University, 14115-175 Tehran, Iran;6. Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, A-8010 Graz, Austria;1. Institute for Geology and Palaeontology, Basel University, 4056 Basel, Switzerland;2. Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria;3. Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH-Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland;4. Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia;5. Faculty of Natural and Technical Sciences, University “Goce Delčev”, 2000 Štip, Republic of Macedonia;6. Faculty of Geology and Geography, University “St. Kl. Ohridski”, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria;1. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution,, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China;2. School of Earth Sciences, Damghan University, Damghan 36716-41167, Iran;3. Geosciences Dept., University of TX at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083-0688, USA;4. Geobiotec, Departamento de Geociências, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal;5. Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum der Universität Göttingen, Goldschmidtstraße 3, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany |
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| Abstract: | The Alaşehir (Gediz) Graben exemplifies clastic sedimentation in a long-lived continental half-graben in a semi-arid setting, developed within relatively incompetent metamorphic rocks. Early Miocene to Recent rift-related sediments are exhumed on both flanks of the graben, allowing detailed three-dimensional study. During the Early Miocene, small fan-delta lobes were shed northwards from the rugged Menderes Metamorphic Massif into a bordering lacustrine basin. During Early to Mid-Miocene time, large alluvial fans prograded northwards into this basin. Through-drainage to the Aegean Sea was established as the basin widened and filled. Discrete lobes of coarse alluvial fan sediments of latest Miocene(?)–Pliocene age, also shedding northwards, are likely to have been climatically influenced. Quaternary alluvium party infills the modern Alaşehır rift basin.The sedimentary information can be used to test two alternative tectonic models for the Alaşehır Graben. In the first model, an E–W graben bounded by high-angle faults was active during latest Miocene(?)–Recent time, whereas earlier Miocene sedimentation was controlled by N–S faulting related to a N–S compressional stress regime. In the second hypothesis, the Alaşehır Graben was initiated much earlier, in the Early Miocene and was then either continuously or episodically active until Recent. Our results, especially facies and palaeocurrent data from alluvial sediments, indicate that clastic sedimentation was controlled by mainly E–W faulting in a N–S stress regime. Assuming the Early Miocene clastic sediments are correctly dated, this supports the second (long-lived extension) model. However, rather than steady-state extension for ca. 15 Ma, the sedimentary evidence and regional context are consistent with a pulsed extension model, whereby initial Early to Mid-Miocene extension and related clastic sedimentation was followed by a second phase of extension in latest Miocene(?)–Pliocene time. The driving force of initial, Early Miocene extension was probably gravity spreading towards a south-Aegean subduction zone, whereas the inferred second extension pulse is seen as being triggered by westward “tectonic escape” of Anatolia towards the extending Aegean back-arc region. |
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