Radiolarian biochronology of upper Anisian to upper Ladinian (Middle Triassic) blocks and tectonic slices of volcano-sedimentary successions in the Mersin Melange, southern Turkey: New insights for the evolution of Neotethys

2016-12-01
TEKİN, UĞUR KAĞAN
Bedi, Yavuz
OKUYUCU, CENGİZ
Göncüoğlu, Mehmet Cemal
Sayıt, Kaan
The Mersin Ophiolitic Complex located in southern Turkey comprises two main structural units; the Mersin Melange, and a well-developed ophiolite succession with its metamorphic sole. The Mersin Melange is a sedimentary complex including blocks and tectonic slices of oceanic litosphere and continental crust in different sizes. Based on different fossil groups (Radiolaria, Conodonta, Foraminifera and Ammonoidea), the age of these blocks ranges from Early Carboniferous to early Late Cretaceous. Detailed fieldwork in the central part of the Mersin Melange resulted in identification of a number of peculiar blocks of thick basaltic pillow-and massive lava sequences alternating with pelagic-clastic sediments and radiolarian cherts. The oldest ages obtained from the radiolarian assemblages from the pelagic sediments transitional to the volcano-sedimentary succession in some blocks are middle to late Late Anisian. These pelagic sediments are overlain by thick sandstones of latest Anisian to middle Early Ladinian age. In some blocks, sandstones are overlain by clastic and pelagic sediments with lower Upper to middle Upper Ladinian radiolarian fauna. Considering the litho- and biostratigraphical data from Middle Triassic successions in several blocks in the Mersin Melange, it is concluded that they correspond mainly to the blocks/slices of the Beysehir-Hoyran Nappes, which were originated from the southern margin of the Neotethyan Izmir-Ankara Ocean. As the pre-Upper Anisian basic volcanics are geochemically evaluated as back-arc basalts, this new age finding suggest that a segment of the Izmir-Ankara branch of the Neotethys was already open prior to Middle Triassic and was the site of intraoceanic subduction.
JOURNAL OF AFRICAN EARTH SCIENCES

Suggestions

Upper Cretaceous Radiolarian ages from an arc-back-arc within the Yuksekova Complex in the southern Neotethys melange, SE Turkey
TEKİN, UĞUR KAĞAN; Ural, Melek; Göncüoğlu, Mehmet Cemal; ARSLAN, MEHMET; KÜRÜM, SEVCAN (2015-02-01)
The Yuksekova complex in SE Turkey is a part of a continuous belt of ophiolites and subduction-accretion complexes that stretches from Troodos in the west to Oman in the east, representing the remnants of the Southern Branch of Neotethys. This complex mainly comprises a tectonically chaotic assemblage of basaltic dykes and pillow lavas associated with radiolarian cherts, shales and pelagic limestones. Detailed petrological work on submarine basaltic lavas from Elazig-Malatya area in SE Turkey revealed the p...
Metamorphic evolution of the Karakaya Complex in northern Turkey based on phyllosilicate mineralogy
TETİKER, SEMA; YALÇIN, HÜSEYİN; BOZKAYA, ÖMER; Göncüoğlu, Mehmet Cemal (2015-04-01)
The Triassic Karakaya Complex (KC) of the Sakarya Composite Terrane in northern Turkey is traditionally subdivided into two units. The Lower Karakaya Complex (LKC) consists of a tectonic m,lange with blocks of metabasic rocks, metacarbonates, meta-arenites and metapelites that have been affected by high pressure/low temperature metamorphism. It is followed by a low pressure/low temperature metamorphic overprint; the latter is the only metamorphic event in some tectonic slivers of the LKC. The Upper Karakaya...
Biostratigraphy of Lower Permian foraminiferal assemblages from platform-slope carbonate blocks within the Mersin Melange, southern Turkey: Paleogeographical implications
Okuyucu, Cengiz; TEKİN, UĞUR KAĞAN; Bedi, Yavuz; Sayıt, Kaan (2020-04-01)
The Mersin Melange (MM) as a part of the Mersin Ophiolitic Complex in southern Turkey is a sedimentary complex including blocks and tectonic slices within a Late Cretaceous matrix. Two blocks (Keven and Cingeypinari) within the MM originated from the northern branch of Neotethys (Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan Ocean) and have been studied in detail using foraminiferal assemblages to correlate them with coeval successions in the Taurides and to approach the Early Permian evolution of the northern branch of the Neotet...
Tectonomagmatic evolution of bimodal plutons in the central Anatolian crystalline complex, Turkey
Kadioglu, Yk; Dilek, Y; Güleç, Nilgün Türkan; Foland, Ka (University of Chicago Press, 2003-11-01)
The NW-trending Agacoren Intrusive Suite (AIS) on the east side of the Salt Lake (Tuz Golu), Turkey, is part of a curvilinear volcanoplutonic complex along the western edge of the central Anatolian crystalline complex (CACC). Granitoids constitute the predominant lithological group within the AIS and range in composition from monzonite through granite to alkali feldspar granite. Gabbroic rocks occur as irregular intrusive bodies with sinusoidal, irregular contacts with the granitoid plutons and vary from di...
Neotethyan ophiolitic rocks of the Anatolides of NW Turkey and comparison with Tauride ophiolites
Onen, AP (2003-11-01)
The Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan zone in Turkey is part of the Anatolide belt. In NW Anatolia, near Kutahya, the ophiolitic rocks within the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone have a tholeiitic character and oceanic back-arc chemistry. Amphibolites form a metamorphic sole to part of the ophiolite in the Kutahya region and yield an Ar-40/Ar-39 age of 93 +/- 2 Ma, interpreted to record high-grade metamorphism and intraoceanic thrusting of pre-existing ocean crust. Gabbros and dykes yield Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of 94 +/- 13...
Citation Formats
U. K. TEKİN, Y. Bedi, C. OKUYUCU, M. C. Göncüoğlu, and K. Sayıt, “Radiolarian biochronology of upper Anisian to upper Ladinian (Middle Triassic) blocks and tectonic slices of volcano-sedimentary successions in the Mersin Melange, southern Turkey: New insights for the evolution of Neotethys,” JOURNAL OF AFRICAN EARTH SCIENCES, pp. 409–426, 2016, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/30392.