Structure and Tectonic Evolution of the Anatolian Plateau in Eastern Turkey
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Downloaded from specialpapers.gsapubs.org on June 8, 2015 Geological Society of America Special Paper 409 2006 Structure and tectonic evolution of the Anatolian plateau in eastern Turkey Muawia Barazangi* Institute for the Study of the Continents and Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA Eric Sandvol Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri–Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA Dog˘an Seber San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California–San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA ABSTRACT The Cenozoic geology and the present lithospheric and upper-mantle structure of the Anatolian plateau in eastern Turkey and nearby regions are the result of the final collision and suturing of the continental Arabia plate to the Turkish terranes (i.e., microcontinents). This process of collision and suturing was strongly influenced by three active structures in the region: the Caucasus mountains, the Aegean subduction zone, and the Dead Sea fault system. Understanding these three major tectonic ele- ments is important for the development of a robust model for the formation of the Ana- tolian plateau. We show that the Anatolian plateau lithosphere in eastern Turkey has no litho- spheric mantle, i.e., the crust floats on a partially molten asthenosphere. The average thickness of the crust in the region is ~45 km. The uppermost mantle beneath this crustal block strongly attenuates Sn waves and has one of the lowest Pn velocities on earth (~7.6 km/s). The Anatolian plateau, with an average of 2-km elevation, is dis- sected by numerous active seismogenic faults (mostly strike-slip and some thrust- type). Neogene and Quaternary volcanism with varying composition is widespread and covers more than half of the region. We argue that the northward subduction of the northern and the southern branches of the Neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere since the Mesozoic has resulted in the development of arc and back-arc volcanism (i.e., the Pontide and Bitlis systems) and the development of the eastern Anatolian accretionary complex, which covers a large area of eastern Turkey. The northward subduction of the southern Neo-Tethys considerably thinned and weakened the overriding Eurasia plate above the descend- ing oceanic lithosphere of the Arabia plate. The final suturing of the continental Ara- bia plate with the Turkish terranes in the Miocene and the continued convergence of Arabia relative to Eurasia has resulted in the shortening of the accretionary complex in both the forearc and the back-arc regions and the development of a broad zone with numerous strike-slip faults. The mobilization of the Caucasus is also partially a con- *E-mail: [email protected]. Barazangi, M., Sandvol, E., and Seber, D., 2006, Structure and tectonic evolution of the Anatolian plateau in eastern Turkey, in Dilek, Y., and Pavlides, S., eds., Post-collisional tectonics and magmatism in the Mediterranean region and Asia: Geological Society of America Special Paper 409, p. 463–473, doi: 10.1130/2006.2409(22). For permission to copy, contact [email protected]. ©2006 Geological Society of America. All rights reserved. 463 Downloaded from specialpapers.gsapubs.org on June 8, 2015 464 M. Barazangi et al. sequence of this convergence. The documented major episode of widespread volcan- ism at ca. 11 Ma is probably related to the break-off of the shallowly descending oceanic segment of the Arabian lithosphere beneath eastern Turkey. The continued convergence of Arabia relative to Eurasia resulted in the development of the North Anatolian fault and subsequently the East Anatolian fault in the Pliocene. At about this time, the northern segment of the Dead Sea fault also developed in Lebanon and northwest Syria and joined the East Anatolian fault to form the Anatolian-Arabian- African triple junction in the Maras region of southern Turkey. The development of these fault systems (i.e., North Anatolian fault, East Anatolian fault, and Dead Sea fault) provided the mechanism for the tectonic escape of the Anatolian crustal block toward the Aegean arc system. Keywords: Anatolian plateau, eastern Turkey, lithosphere structure, Arabia plate INTRODUCTION from October 1999 to August 2001 in eastern Turkey in order to obtain detailed images of the lithospheric and upper-mantle seis- This article is a brief summary of the most current models mic velocity structure (Sandvol et al., 2003a). These were the for the geologic and tectonic evolution of the Anatolian plateau first detailed images of the eastern Turkey subsurface. in eastern Turkey and the surrounding regions (Fig. 1). Such a One of the important results was that the crustal thickness summary is warranted in light of the seismological and other is, on average, less than 45 km (Zor et al., 2003). The crustal geophysical information that became available during the past thickness varies from ~38 km in the Arabian foreland in south- few years concerning the upper mantle and lithospheric images ern Turkey to ~50 km farther north in the mountain ranges that (e.g., Al-Lazki et al., 2003; Gok et al., 2003; Turkelli et al., 2003; extend along the Black Sea (i.e., the Pontides). The region is Zor et al., 2003; Maggi and Priestley, 2005). This is not a re- seismically very active, with numerous microearthquakes oc- view-type article; its main focus is on further advancing the un- curring daily. Though the majority of well-located events corre- derstanding of eastern Turkey using and building on the few late well with mapped seismogenic faults (Fig. 2), there are many available synthesis papers, mostly based on surface geology. events that occur in areas where no surface faults are mapped Recently, S¸engör et al. (2003) and Keskin (2003, 2005) pub- (Turkelli et al., 2003). Most events occur in the upper 25 km of lished excellent syntheses of eastern Anatolia and proposed sim- the crust, and no subcrustal earthquakes occur anywhere in the ilar evolutionary models. Their models are mostly based on region. Most focal mechanisms are of the strike-slip type (Fig. surface geology and magma genesis, but are also consistent with 2), with very limited thrust or normal fault types that are re- recent seismological observations. In this article, we present stricted to certain areas (Orgulu et al., 2003). some modifications on the proposed models of S¸engör et al. and The uppermost mantle beneath eastern Turkey is extremely Keskin. In addition, we call attention to the importance of anomalous. Sn waves are not observed across the Anatolian regional tectonic structures in the geologic evolution of the Ana- plateau (Fig. 3) and are shown to be blocked over very short dis- tolian plateau. tances (Gok et al., 2003; Al-Damegh et al., 2004). The tomo- graphic Pn velocity indicates that the Anatolian lithospheric WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE mantle is seismically very slow (7.6–7.8 km/s; Fig. 3) (Al-Lazki EASTERN ANATOLIAN PLATEAU? et al., 2003, 2004). Recent results based on surface waveform tomography also show a low shear wave velocity anomaly in the Crustal and Upper Mantle Structure uppermost mantle beneath the Anatolian plateau (Maggi and Priestley, 2005). These independent measurements indicate both Excellent summaries of the geology, tectonic history, and that the uppermost mantle is partially molten (i.e., there is no the magma genesis of eastern Anatolia are published in the lit- mantle lid) and that the asthenospheric material is in direct con- erature (e.g., S¸engör and Yılmaz, 1981; Dewey et al., 1986; tact with the base of the crust. These results also indicate that Dilek and Moores, 1990; Pearce et al., 1990; Yılmaz, 1993; continental Arabia is not significantly underthrusting beneath Dilek et al., 1999; Bozkurt, 2001; Gorur and Tuysuz, 2001; S¸en- the Anatolian plateau, in contrast to the situation in the Indian- gör et al., 2003; Keskin, 2003, 2005). It is not necessary to re- Eurasian collisional belt. Recent results (Sandvol and Zor, peat such information in this short article. However, we provide 2004) indicate that the ultra-low Pn velocity zone is also under- a brief summary of the recent results based on the Eastern lain by a slightly low-velocity zone in the upper mantle beneath Turkey Seismic Experiment (ETSE). During the experiment we the northern Arabia plate and the easternmost portion of the deployed a twenty-nine PASSCAL broadband seismic network Anatolia plate. Finally, shear wave splitting results (Fig. 4B) Downloaded from specialpapers.gsapubs.org on June 8, 2015 Structure and tectonic evolution of the Anatolian plateau in eastern Turkey 465 30° Black Sea 40° 50°E Caucasus NAF P 40°N Anatolia Plate S EAF tlis utu Bi re Arabia AA Plate CA Figure 1. Map showing the major tec- DSF Mediterranean 1500 m tonic boundaries in eastern Turkey and the surrounding regions. NAF—North Sea Palmyrides Elevation Anatolian fault; P—Pontide belt; EAF —East Anatolian fault; AA—Aegean arc; CA—Cyprian arc; DSF—Dead Sea fault. The large arrows indicate the di- rection of plate motion. elevation show that the fast polarization directions are uniform and exhibit eastern Turkey are as low as –160 mgal. As described earlier, a northeast-southwest orientations (Sandvol et al., 2003b). These recent study by Zor et al. (2003) mapped the Moho thickness in observations are best interpreted to indicate a northeast-oriented the region using seismic receiver functions from the twenty-nine asthenospheric flow in the upper mantle that is nearly parallel to stations of the ETSE seismic experiment (Fig. 5). We used their the inferred absolute plate motion. depth-to-Moho values, then gridded and extrapolated them to obtain a uniform Moho depth coverage (Fig. 5). We then calcu- 3-D Gravity Modeling of Eastern Anatolia lated the 3-D gravity anomaly using this Moho structure.