Differential uplift along the northern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau: inferences from marine terraces

Abstract

Emerged marine terraces and paleoshorelines along plate margins are prominent geomorphic markers that can be used to quantify the rates and patterns of crustal deformation. The northern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau has been interpreted as an actively deforming orogenic wedge between the North Anatolian Fault and the Black Sea. Here we use uplifted marine terraces across principal faults on the Sinop Peninsula at the central northern side of the Pontide orogenic wedge to unravel patterns of Quaternary faulting and orogenic wedge behavior. We leveled the present-day elevations of paleoshorelines and dated marine terrace deposits using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to determine coastal uplift. The elevations of the paleoshorelines vary between 4 ± 0.2 and 67 ± 1.4 m above sea level and OSL ages suggest terrace formation episodes during interglacial periods at ca 125, 190, 400 and 570 ka, corresponding to marine isotopic stages (MIS) 5e, 7a, 11 and 15. Mean apparent vertical displacement rates (without eustatic correction) deduced from these terraces range between 0.02 and 0.18 mm/a, with intermittent faster rates of up to 0.26 mm/a. We obtained higher rates at the eastern and southern parts of the peninsula, toward the hinterland, indicating non-uniform uplift across the different morphotectonic segments of the peninsula. Our data are consistent with active on- and offshore faulting across the Sinop Peninsula. When integrated with regional tectonic observations, the faulting pattern reflects shortening distributed over a broad region of the northern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau during the Quaternary.