Aksaray and Ecemis Faults—Diapiric Salt Relationships: Relevance to the Hydrocarbon Exploration in the Tuz Golu (Salt Lake) Basin, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract

Due to activitiy of the Aksaray and Ecemis Faults, volcanic intrusion and westward movement of the Anatolian plate, diapiric salt structures were occurred in the Tuz Golu (Salt Lake) basin in central Anatolia, Turkey. With the collisions of the Arabian and Anatolian plates during the late Cretaceous and Miocene times, prominent ophiolitic obduction occurred in the Pontides and Taurides along the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) and East Anatolian Fault (EAF). The NAF and EAF intersect each other in the Karliova region, in eastern Turkey. At this point, due to the northward movement of the Arabian plate in SE Turkey, the Anatolian plate shifted toward the west and south along the fault zones. The same geological tectonic model is proposed at the intersection point of the Aksaray Fault (AF) and Ecemis Fault (EF) in central Anatolia. The westward movement of the Anatolian plate between these two faults resulted in the formation of the diapiric salt structures, volcanic intrusions and overpressure zones in the study area. Paleogeological reconstructions of the Tuz Golu basin indicate that the salient positive structures in the basin were formed during late Eocene-Oligocene times. These structures, like the Yeniceoba-Bezirci and Karapinar-Kochisar trends, are oriented in a NW-SE or N-S directions between the Kirsehir and Sivrihisar-Bozdag massifs. The subsidence rate and Paleogeographic evolutions in the basin show that the southeastern sector of the Tuz Golu basin remained shallower relative to the central and northwestern regions. Based on the paleostructural, subsidence and geothermal reconstructions, it has been concluded that the oil generation and migration zones and geothermal trends are oriented in a NW-SE direction in the Tuz Golu basin.