Upper Palaeozoic subduction/accretion processes in the closure of Palaeotethys: Evidence from the Chios Melange (E Greece), the Karaburun Melange (W Turkey) and the Teke Dere Unit (SW Turkey)

Abstract

During Late Palaeozoic time a wide ocean, known as Palaeotethys, separated the future Eurasian and African continents. This ocean closed in Europe in the west during the Variscan orogeny, whereas in Asia further east it remained open and evolved into the Mesozoic Tethys, only finally closing during Late Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic. Three Upper Palaeozoic lithological assemblages, the Chios Melange (on the Aegean Greek island), the Karaburun Melange (westernmost Aegean Turkey) and the Teke Dere Unit (Lycian Nappes, SW Turkey) provide critical information concerning sedimentary and tectonic processes during closure of Palaeotethys. The Chios and Karaburun melanges in the west are mainly terrigenous turbidites with blocks and dismembered sheets of Silurian–Upper Carboniferous platform carbonate rocks (shallow-water and slope facies) and poorly dated volcanic rocks. The Teke Dere Unit to the southeast begins with alkaline, within-plate-type volcanics, depositionally overlain by Upper Carboniferous shallow-water carbonates. This intact succession is overlain by a tectonic slice complex comprising sandstone turbidites that are intersliced with shallow-water, slope and deep-sea sediments (locally dated as Early Carboniferous). Sandstone petrography and published detrital mineral dating imply derivation from units affected by the Panafrican (Cadomian) and Variscan orogenies. All three units are interpreted as parts of subduction complexes in which pervasive shear zones separate component parts. Silurian–Lower Carboniferous black cherts (lydites) and slope carbonates accreted in a subduction trench where sandstone turbidites accumulated. Some blocks retain primary depositional contacts, showing that gravitational processes contributed to formation of the melange. Detached blocks of Upper Palaeozoic shallow-water carbonates (e.g. Chios) are commonly mantled by conglomerates, which include water-worn clasts of black chert. The carbonate blocks are restored as one, or several, carbonate platforms that collided with an active margin, fragmenting into elongate blocks that slid into a subduction trench. This material was tectonically accreted at shallow levels within a subduction complex, resulting in layer-parallel extension, shearing and slicing. The accretion mainly took place during Late Carboniferous time. Alternative sedimentary-tectonic models are considered in which the timing and extent of closure of Palaeotethys differ, and in which subduction was either northwards towards Eurasia, or southwards towards Gondwana (or both). Terrane displacement is also an option. A similar (but metamorphosed) accretionary unit, the Konya Complex, occurs hundreds of kilometres further east. All of these units appear to have been assembled along the northern margin of Gondwana by Permian time, followed by deposition of overlying Tauride-type carbonate platforms. Northward subduction of Palaeotethys beneath Eurasia is commonly proposed. However, the accretionary units studied here are more easily explained by southward subduction towards Gondwana. Palaeotethys was possibly consumed by long-lived (Late Palaeozoic) northward subduction beneath Eurasia, coupled with more short-lived (Late Carboniferous) southward subduction near Gondwana, during or soon after closure of Palaeotethys in the Balkan region to the west.