Abstract
AbstractGeologic evidence across orogenic plateau margins enables the discrimination of the relative contributions of orogenic, epeirogenic and/or climatic processes that lead to growth and maintenance of those plateaus and their margins. Here, we discuss the mode of formation of the southern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau (SCAP) and evaluate its time of formation using fieldwork in the onshore and seismic reflection data in the offshore. In the onshore, uplifted Miocene rocks in a dip‐slope topography show monocline flexure over >100 km, km‐scale asymmetric folds verging south, and outcrop‐scale syn‐sedimentary reverse faults. On the Turkish shelf, vertical faults transect the basal latest Messinian of a 10 km fold where on‐structure syntectonic wedges and synsedimentary unconformities indicate pre‐Pliocene uplift and erosion, followed by Pliocene and younger deformation. Collectively, Miocene rocks delineate a flexural monocline at plateau margin scale that is expressed along our on‐offshore sections as a kink‐band fold with a steep flank 20–25 km long. In these reconstructed sections, we estimate a relative vertical displacement of 3.8 km at rates of ca. 0.5 mm/y, and horizontal shortening values <1 %. We use this evidence together with our observations of shortening at outcrop, basin, plateau‐margin and forearc‐system scales to infer that the SCAP forms as a monoclinal flexure to accommodate deep‐seated thickening and shortening since >5 Ma, and to contextualize the plateau margin as the forearc high of the Cyprus subduction system.
Highlights
IntroductionMany mechanisms are proposed to explain the growth of orogenic plateaus and the longterm feedbacks between their geodynamic and/or climatic controls (e.g., Bird, 1979; Powell, 1986; Nelson et al, 1996; Pope & Willett, 1998; Yin & Harrison, 2000; Tapponnier et al, 2001; Şengör et al, 2003; Sobel et al, 2003; Rowley & Currie, 2006; GarciaCastellanos, 2007; Ballato et al, 2010; Biryol et al, 2011)
Current studies advocate for epeirogenic causes to explain the growth and uplift of the Central Anatolian Plateau southern margin (SCAP) (e.g., Schildgen et al, 2014)
[EarthArXiv Preprint – Accepted in Basin Research] the Central Anatolian Plateau, this mechanism would imply that protracted thickening by sedimentary accretion from the Central Cyprus margin thermally activates low-strength viscous flow at the base of the Anatolian crust, and sustains the growth of the southern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau (SCAP) as a regional flexure at plateau margin scale
Summary
Many mechanisms are proposed to explain the growth of orogenic plateaus and the longterm feedbacks between their geodynamic and/or climatic controls (e.g., Bird, 1979; Powell, 1986; Nelson et al, 1996; Pope & Willett, 1998; Yin & Harrison, 2000; Tapponnier et al, 2001; Şengör et al, 2003; Sobel et al, 2003; Rowley & Currie, 2006; GarciaCastellanos, 2007; Ballato et al, 2010; Biryol et al, 2011). Compressional tectonics of the Cyprian subduction zone is attested by tapering-southward forearc basins atop south-verging thrust systems in the offshore (e.g., Aksu et al, 2005a, 2005b; Calon et al, 2005a, 2005b; Hall et al, 2005a, 2005b), in the Kyrenia Range, and in the Messaoria Basin (e.g., McCay, 2010; McCay & Robertson, 2012; McCay et al, 2012) These observations provide a different frame whereby the southern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau may have been uplifted “actively” by contraction within the Cyprus subduction system. We analyse key fieldwork observations in the Mut Basin, lying atop the Tauride Mountains to the north, and interpret and depthconvert N-S trending seismic lines in the offshore Outer Cilicia Basin (OCB) (Fig. 1) We link these basins in regional onshore-offshore cross-sections to delineate a monocline at plateau margin scale that we analyse geometrically. We depict the motion of the structures as known in the available literature
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