Kinematics of the Central Taurides during Neotethys closure and collision, the nappes in the Sultan Mountains, Turkey

摘要

In the Central Taurides, the Sultan Mountains comprise in ascending order the Cimendere unit and the Aks.ehir, Doganhisar, Cay nappes composed of metasedi-mentary sequences deposited from Cambrian to Tertiary. The overthrust of the Cay nappe on the Lutetian Celeptas. formation representing the uppermost stratigraphic position in the Cimendere unit indicates that the latest nappe emplacement occurred during the Middle Eocene. The Oligocene and Miocene rocks are in post-tectonic facies in the west Central Taurides. The kinematic data from these nappes related to closure of the Neotethys reveal a top-NE shear sense in the northwest part and a top-SE shear sense in the southeast part of the Sultan Mountains. The Sultan Mountains are located in the north part of the Isparta Angle which was tectonically assembled by the Lycian, Hoyran-Beygehir-Hadim and Antalya allochthons on the Bey Daglan and Anamas-Akseki autochthons from the Latest Cretaceous to the Late Pliocene. The previous paleomag-netic data showed that the west and east subsections of the Isparta Angle were subjected to post-Eocene 30°-40° anticlockwise and clockwise rotations, respectively. In consideration of these paleomagnetic data, the kinematic data measured in the Sultan Mountains might be restored into approximately E-W-trending linear fabric associated with a top-E shear sense. These new kinematic data from the nappes in the Sultan Mountains disagree with the existing tectonic models that suggest N-S nappe translation over the Central Taurides during the latest Cretaceous-Middle Eocene. The alternative tectonic model for the Antalya nappes in the core of the Isparta Angle related to east-west compression suggests westward and eastward nappe emplacements on the surrounding autochthons. However, the new kinematic data presented here point consistently to a top-E shear sense in all tectonostrati-graphic units in the Sultan Mountains currently located in the north part of the Anamas-Akseki autochthon.