Mio-Pliocene basin development in the eastern part of the Cappadocian Volcanic Province (Central Anatolia, Turkey) and its implications for regional tectonics

Abstract

The Cappadocian Volcanic Province (CVP) comprises predominantly of a thick succession of volcanogenic rocks and interbedded siliciclastic sediments of Middle Miocene to Recent age in Central Anatolia, Turkey. The conditions of basin development in the eastern part of the CVP have been elucidated by using sedimentological and geomorphological approaches. The prevailing tectonic regime, its extent and causes are also discussed. Sedimentological analysis supported by geomorphological observations revealed a major NE-trending probably normal, border fault and its several synthetics. This tectonic element constitutes the SE margin of the basin and divided the CVP from the Tauride range during Middle Miocene to Pliocene. The basin fill in the study area comprises gravelly alluvial fans near the border fault, while fluvial clastics and lacustrine carbonates dominate towards the centre. Some pyroclastic rocks and lava flows are also made part of the fill. The southeastern basin margin is characterized morphologically by a number of uplifted basement blocks, probably associated with synthetic faults, and some deeply incised canyons in the footwall. These canyons were subsequently filled with a Mid-Pliocene ignimbrite sheet, and represent the sediment supply conduits to the basin. The cessation of filling in the basin was determined by strike-slip faults that uplifted and detached the basin about 2.6 Ma. This date also marks the onset of the neotectonic period in the region. The overall extensional tectonic regime inferred for the eastern CVP appears coeval with events recognised in the southern basins, i.e. Adana and Mut Basins and the eastern Mediterranean. Some physical connections between these basins also have been demonstrated. It is suggested that the CVP and the southern basins were all created during a phase of extension resulting from continued northward subduction of the African plate beneath the Eurasia during the Late Cenozoic.