Structural history of the Antalya Complex in the ‘Isparta angle’, Southwest Turkey

Abstract

Summary The Isparta angle is the north-pointing cusp where the arc of the Hellenides meets that of the Taurides in southwestern Turkey. The Antalya Complex is an assemblage of allochthonous deep- to shallow-water Mesozoic sedimentary rocks and ophiolite fragments present at the centre of the angle, surrounded by massive platform carbonate units, also of Mesozoic age. Structural mapping of the folded and faulted Antalya Complex in the Eǧridir region at the centre of the Isparta angle indicates at least two major episodes of deformation. An earlier phase, probably latest Cretaceous in age, resulted in the thrusting of deep-water sediments over shelf-edge units which originally lay to the northeast. Subsequent southwest-vergent folding and thrusting in the Tertiary era locally reversed the earlier stacking order. Regularly imbricated thrust complexes were converted into chaotic mélange-like terrains. The sedimentary cover was shortened by at least 72% as a cumulative result of these events. Palinspastic reconstruction of the Antalya Complex sedimentary basin indicates a wide original separation of the carbonate platform units on the east and west limbs of the Isparta angle, with at least one smaller platform between. These units were therefore probably separate carbonate banks, analogous to the present-day Bahama Banks.