Map view restoration of Aegean–West Anatolian accretion and extension since the Eocene

Abstract

The Aegean region (Greece, western Turkey) is one of the best studied continental extensional provinces. Here, we provide the first detailed kinematic restoration of the Aegean region since 35 Ma. The region consists of stacked upper crustal slices (nappes) that reflect a complex paleogeography. These were decoupled from the subducting African‐Adriatic lithospheric slab. Especially since ∼25 Ma, extensional detachments cut the nappe stack and exhumed its metamorphosed portions in metamorphic core complexes. We reconstruct up to 400 km of trench‐perpendicular (NE‐SW) extension in two stages. From 25 to 15 Ma, the Aegean forearc rotated clockwise relative to the Moesian platform around Euler poles in northern Greece, accommodated by extensional detachments in the north and an inferred transfer fault SE of the Menderes massif. The majority of extension occurred after 15 Ma (up to 290 km) by opposite rotations of the western and eastern parts of the region. Simultaneously, the Aegean region underwent up to 650 km of post‐25 Ma trench‐parallel extension leading to dramatic crustal thinning on Crete. We restore a detachment configuration with the Mid‐Cycladic Lineament representing a detachment that accommodated trench‐parallel extension in the central Aegean region. Finally, we demonstrate that the Sakarya zone and Cretaceous ophiolites of Turkey cannot be traced far into the Aegean region and are likely bounded by a pre‐35 Ma N‐S fault zone. This fault became reactivated since 25 Ma as an extensional detachment located west of Lesbos Island. The paleogeographic units south of the İzmir‐Ankara‐Sava suture, however, can be correlated from Greece to Turkey.