Evidence of two-stage extensional tectonics from the northern edge of the Edremit Graben, NW Turkey

Abstract

Western Turkey is a place of active continental extension, characterized by the occurrence of several WNW-ESE-trending major grabens. The central part of the northern edge of the Edremit Graben is delineated by various geological units, namely the metamorphic Kazdağ Massif, the Mid-Cretaceous Çetmi mélange, the sedimentary Küçükkuyu formation, and loose Plio-Quaternary deposits. Detailed structural and sedimentological study suggests a two-stage extensional evolution of the area, separated by a short break in the tectonic regime. The first stage, possibly related to back-arc extension and/or orogenic collapse, is marked by the activity of a newly described low-angle detachment fault, the şelale detachment fault, from the latest Oligocene onward. The fault plane, separating the mylonitized rocks of the Kazdağ Massif in the footwall from the unmetamorphosed Çetmi mélange and Küçükkuyu formation in the hanging wall, must have played a significant role in the initial exhumation processes of the Kazdağ Massif at that time. The Lower Miocene syntectonic Küçükkuyu formation has recorded the initiation and filling up of a small basin, which has developed in a typical supra-detachment basin, above the detachment fault. After a short phase of possible compression and erosion, the second stage—which marks the onset of neotectonic activity—is marked by the development of Plio-Quaternary step-like normal faults, which cut through all the previous units. Coarse, loose sediments were deposited following the fault activity. These local results are extrapolated to apply to the entire Edremit Graben. In that case, its evolution is seen as the succession of two extensional stages, characterized by distinct structural and sedimentological patterns, and possibly separated by a short compressional phase.