The Çubukludağ graben, south of İzmir: its tectonic significance in the Neogene geological evolution of the western Anatolia

Abstract

Field studies on the Neogene successions in south of İzmir reveal that subsequent Neogene continental basins were developed in the region. Initially a vast lake basin was formed during the early-Middle Miocene period. The lacustrine sediments underwent an approximately N-S shortening deformation to the end of Middle Miocene. A small portion of the basin fill was later trapped within the N-S-trending, fault-bounded graben basin, the Çubukludağ graben, opened during the Late Miocene. Oblique-slip normal faults with minor sinistral displacement are formed possibly under N–S extensional regime, and controlled the sediment deposition. Following this the region suffered a phase of denudation which produced a regionwide erosional surface suggesting that the extension interrupted to the end of Late Miocene–Early Pliocene period. After this event the E–W-trending major grabens and horsts of western Anatolia began to form. The graben bounding faults cut across the Upper Miocene–Pliocene lacustrine sediments and fragmented the erosional surface. The Çubukludağ graben began to work as a cross garden between the E–W grabens, since that period. © 2001 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS