Tectonics of the southeast anatolian orogenic belt

Abstract

The tectonic development of the Southeast Anatolian Orogenic Belt (SAOB) is closely related to the demise of the NeoTethys Ocean that existed between the Arabian and Eurasian plates from the Late Cretaceous to Late Miocene. This ocean contained several continental slivers and intraoceanic magmatic arcs. The continental slivers represent narrow tectonic belts rifted off and drifted away from the Arabian Plate while the NeoTethyan Ocean and the backarc basins were opened. These slivers later collided with each another during which the branches of the oceans were eliminated and the continental slivers were integrated in the subduction zone and turned into metamorphic massifs. During the Late Cretaceous, the first collision occurred when an accretionary complex was thrust over the Arabian Plate's leading edge. Despite the collision, the ocean survived in the north and its northward subduction generated a new intraoceanic arc, which collided later with the northerly located continental slivers. During the Middle Eocene, the metamorphic massifs and the intraoceanic arc front migrated to the south. The new magmatic arc collided with the southerly transported nappe package during the Late Eocene. The amalgamated nappe pile eventually obducted onto the Arabian Plate during the Late Miocene. The collision produced escape structures during the Neotectonic period.