A new chronostratigraphy (40Ar-39Ar and U-Pb dating) for the middle section of the  Burdur-Fethiye Shear Zone, SW Turkey (eastern Mediterranean)

İrem ELİTEZ,Gürsel SUNAL,Cenk YALTIRAK

doi:10.3906/yer-1803-14

Abstract

Southwestern Turkey is a tectonically active region where extensional, strike-slip, and compressional tectonics cooccur. The Burdur-Fethiye Shear Zone is located in the middle of this complex area. Understanding the tectonic evolution of this region is crucial, but the controversial Neogene chronostratigraphy does not allow robust synthesis because of poor age control. The middle section of the Burdur-Fethiye Shear Zone includes three basins: the Acipayam, Cameli, and Golhisar basins. All these basins represent restricted portions of ancient larger carbonate lakes. The lacustrine sediments are locally covered or cut by lamproites with sparse intercalations of tuff levels. New 40 Ar- 39 Ar biotite and U-Pb zircon radiometric ages from volcanics and a tuff layer in this study demonstrate that the previously suggested Pliocene ages for these sediments are incorrect and that these Neogene sediments are middle Miocene in age.

Highlights

Southwestern Turkey is a tectonically complex and active region in the Anatolian Microplate
Various hypotheses have been proposed for the tectonic evolution of this region, where structures formed associated with: 1) the westward escape of the Anatolian Microplate (Dewey and Şengör, 1979; Şengör, 1979; Şengör et al, 1985); 2) the NESW back-arc extension of the Aegean region (McKenzie, 1978; Le Pichon and Angelier, 1979; Meulenkamp et al, 1988; Yılmaz et al, 2000); 3) the subduction-transform edge propagator fault zone related to the motion of the Hellenic and Cyprus arcs (Govers and Wortel, 2005; Hall et al, 2014a); and 4) the compressional region of the Western Taurides (Aksu et al, 2009, 2014; Hall et al, 2009, 2014a, 2014b)
U-Pb zircon and 40Ar-39Ar biotite methods were applied on the samples and the results show that lacustrine sediments are upper Miocene in age rather than Pliocene

Summary

Introduction

Southwestern Turkey is a tectonically complex and active region in the Anatolian Microplate. The middle section of this shear zone consists of an ancient basin fill including the middle Miocene to lower Pliocene sequence, accumulated in fluvial and lacustrine environments and deformed by left-lateral transtensional shearing (Elitez et al, 2016; Elitez and Yaltırak, 2016). Today this region includes the Acıpayam, Çameli, and Gölhisar basins and their modern basin fill consisting of Pliocene–Quaternary units (Elitez and Yaltırak, 2016).

Methods

Results

Conclusion