AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightAll these data indicate that the results of large-scale nappe tectonics in southern Turkey reveal the occurrence of more or less similar structural styles.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
The Yeşilbarak nappe is situated in between the Lycian nappes and Beydağları autochthon in southeast Turkey; it is a continuous unit for long distance and has an intermediate zone character. It is generally made up of turbiditic elastics of Upper Lutetian-Lower Miocene age and comprises of more or less different structural units such as Gömbe and Yavuz units. The latter is observed as overlying the former unit and in many places it is overturned. At the base of the Gömbe unit, the Gebeler formation which is made up of Upper Cretaceous neritic carbonates takes place. The Gömbe unit is represented by two formations: a) Upper Lutetian- Lower Miocene Elmalı formation which comprises sandstone with limestone intercalations, siltstone and claystone, and b) Upper Burdigalian-Lower Langhian Ucarsu formation which is made up of sandstone with limestone bands and lenses, and conglomerates. The second structural unit of the Yeşilbarak nappe, the Yavuz unit is represented by Yavuz formation which comprises limestone-interbedded sandstone, siltstone and claystone of Upper Lutetian-Priabonian age. The Gebeler and Uçarsu formations of Gömbe unit are observed only in limited locations. The Yeşilbarak nappe has undergone intensive deformation related to the southward movement of the Lycian nappes at the end of the Lower Miocene that resulted in a structure of folded, fractured and overthrusted. The unit has been thrusted along a distance of tens of kilometers southward together with the Lycian nappes on the Beydağları autochthone. In southeast Anatolia, in between the Bitlis-Pötürge-Malatya nappes and Southeast Anatolian autochthone, Eocene-Lower Miocene Çüngüş-Hakkari nappe, bearing the features of turbiditic character, is observed in a long distance continuously, with an intermediate zone character. This nappe, as well as in the case of the Yeşilbarak nappe in Western Taurus range comprises of two structural units, the Çüngüş formation and the Hakkari complex. The Eocene-Lower Miocene Çüngüş formation is the lower unit which is made up of sandstone with occasional blocks, siltstone and claystone and has similarities with the Elmalı formation of the Gömbe unit in the west. The Hakkari complex, on the other hand, is the upper structural unit and is composed of two more or less different structural units; the Urşe formation of Eocene-Oligocene age made up of sandstone, claystone, limestone, and the Durankaya formation of Lower-Middle Eocene age made up of sandstone with occasional blocks, shale and conglomerate. These formations that belong to the Hakkari complex may, even if partially, be correlated with the Yavuz formation in the west. These above-mentioned formations of the Çüngüş-Hakkari nappe have undergone intensive deformation related to the southward movement of the Bitlis-Pötürge-Malatya nappes in Miocene and have been thrusted on the Southeast Anatolian autochthone for tens of kilometers. Similar formations with that of the Yeşilbarak nappe and the Middle Eocene- Lower Miocene clastic rocks of the Çüngüş-Hakkari nappe can be observed widespreadly in northern Cyprus. Allochthonous masses have been emplaced on these clastic rocks in Cyprus during Miocene. The Middle Eocene-Lower Miocene elastics have been thrusted by the Ovgos fault southward in the region, however, no large-scale thrusting as observed in Anatolia has not occurred here, in Cyprus. All these data indicate that the results of large-scale nappe tectonics in southern Turkey reveal the occurrence of more or less similar structural styles.