Neogene–Recent extension on the eastern flank of Mount Olympus, Greece

Abstract

The Olympus massif of NE Greece comprises metamorphosed and deformed Triassic and Cretaceous–Eocene carbonates considered to represent part of the passive southwestern margin of Neotethys, which separated the Apulia plate of mainland Greece from southern Europe in the Mesozoic. Ocean closure in the Early Tertiary led to subduction of this passive margin, as a result of which the Olympus carbonates were tectonically overridden in the Eocene by a series of thrust sheets consisting of locally high P/T (blueschist) metamorphosed continental margin sediments, basement granitoid gneisses, and ophiolitic rocks. Following collision, uplift of the Olympus carbonates by ~ 6–8 km was accomplished by Early Neogene ductile and Late Neogene–Recent brittle normal faulting, which exposed the carbonates in the form of a structural window through the overriding thrust stack. The focus of this exhumation occurred on the eastern flank of the massif where a thick calc–mylonite with down-to-the-east sense-of-shear indicators and a prominent zone of NNW- to NW-trending brittle normal faults separate the carbonates from telescoped structurally overlying units. Published 40Ar/ 39Ar microcline ages that indicate a thermal perturbation close to the contact zone in excess of 100–150 °C at 16–23 Ma (Early Miocene) are taken to date the onset of ductile extension, and imply long-term uplift rates of ~ 0.4 to 1 km/m.y. Degradation of Pleistocene glacial features on the Olympus massif and the presence on its eastern piedmont of deeply incised streams, erosional terraces, and fault scarps that offset the sedimentary deposits of three cycles of Pleistocene glacial deposition (Units 1–3), testify to its continuing uplift. A prominent frontal fault offsets Unit 2 by > 150 m and several subsidiary NW-trending normal faults with a cumulative displacement of ~ 130 m offset a paleosol developed on Unit 1. Kinematic indicators indicate normal dip-slip movement. Cumulative fault displacement for Unit 1 exceeds 277 m, yielding a minimum uplift rate of ~ 1.3 mm/yr, given the oxygen isotope stage 7 (Mindel/Riss) age of 210 ka proposed for the Unit 1 paleosol. Cumulative offset of > 196 m for the paleosol developed on Unit 2 yields an uplift rate of ~ 1.6 mm/yr, given its proposed isotope stage 5e (Riss/Würm) age of 125 ka. This estimate is supported by longitudinal valley profile data that document ~ 200 m of stream incision since Unit 2 deposition and show the offset as reflecting uplift of the Olympus massif rather than subsidence of the adjacent Gulf of Thermaikos. Assuming 1.8 Ma for the base of the Pleistocene, these rates yield a total uplift range for the Quaternary of 2.3–4.1 km, consistent with the present 2.6 km height of Olympus above the exposed frontal fault. Neogene uplift of Olympus was likely facilitated by extension accompanying the opening of the Aegean back-arc basin during the Miocene as a result of the southward retreat of the Hellenic subduction zone. For the Pliocene–Recent, uplift was likely facilitated by extension linked to the termination of dextral motion at the western end of the North Anatolian Fault associated with the westward tectonic escape of Anatolia .