Abstract
The Tauride ophiolites lie on the northern and southern flanks of an E-W-trending Tauride carbonate platform. They mainly consist of three tectonic units namely in ascending order, ophiolitic melange, sub-ophiolitic metamorphic sole and oceanic lithospheric remnants. They were generated above intra-oceanic subduction zones and emplaced over the Tauride carbonate platform from different Neotethyan oceanic basins in the Late Cretaceous. Tauride ophiolites from west to east are described and reviewed. All are underlain by well-preserved dynamothermal metamorphic soles of varied structural thicknesses up to 500 m that have a constant structural position between ophiolitic melange below and harzburgitic mantle tectonites above and display typical inverted metamorphic sequences from amphibolite facies above to greenschist facies below. The metamorphic soles are shown to have evolved during the initiation of subduction and emplacement processes. In the Pozanti- Karsanti area the contact between the metamorphic sole and the overlying serpentinized harzburgites is characterized by a 1.5–2-m-thick zone of sheared serpentinized harzburgitic mantle intercalated with amphibolites and cut by thick mafic dykes (7–8 m) which postdate intraoceanic metamorphism and high-temperature ductile deformation. This contact is interpreted as an intra-oceanic decoupling surface along which volcanics from the upper levels of the down-going plate were metamorphosed to amphibolite facies and accreted to the base of the hanging wall plate. The metamorphic soles and overlying ophiolitic rocks were intruded by numerous isolated post-metamorphic diabase dykes filled by island arc tholeiitic magma. Subduction initiation and roll-back processes best explain the structural and petrological relationships of Late Cretaceous ophiolite genesis, metamorphic sole formation and subsequent dyke emplacement of the Tauride ophiolites.
Highlights
The Tauride orogenic belts of Turkey are interpreted as representing a continental fragment that rifted from Gondwana (North Africa) during the Triassic, followed by reamalgamation and continental collision during the Oligo– Miocene (Karaoğlan et al, 2016) or Miocene (Okay et al, 2010)
Individual ophiolites mainly consist of three tectonic units; in ascending order, ophiolitic mélange, sub-ophiolitic metamorphic sole and oceanic lithospheric remnants
The Tethyan ophiolites are structurally underlain by thin sheets of high-grade metamorphic sole rocks (Jamieson, 1986; Robertson and Dixon, 1984; Spray, 1984; Williams and Smyth, 1973)
Summary
The Tauride orogenic belts of Turkey are interpreted as representing a continental fragment that rifted from Gondwana (North Africa) during the Triassic, followed by reamalgamation and continental collision during the Oligo– Miocene (Karaoğlan et al, 2016) or Miocene (Okay et al, 2010). Ophiolites along the Tauride belt start with the Lycian nappes to the west and end with the Divriği ophiolite to the east (Fig. 1) These ophiolites (the Lycian nappes, Antalya, Beyşehir-Hoyran nappes, Mersin, Alihoca, PozantıKarsantı, Pınarbaşı and Divriği) are situated either on the northern or on the southern flank of an approximately EW trending Tauride carbonate platform axis (Juteau, 1980). The plutonic sections and the metamorphic soles of the Tauride ophiolites are cut by numerous isolated microgabbro-diabase and minor pyroxenite dykes at different structural levels (Robertson et al, 2013; Bağcı and Parlak, 2009; Çelik and Chiaradia, 2008; Çelik, 2007; Çelik and Delaloye, 2003; Elitok, 2001; Dilek et al, 1999; Parlak and Delaloye, 1996; Whitechurch et al, 1984; Juteau, 1980).
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