Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE, cilt.1, ss.1-30, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
The demise and closure of the Neotethyan Ocean gave way to the collision and finally amalgamation of various continental fragments in Turkey along the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan and Intra-Tauride suture zones. These continental fragments include Pontides in the north and Menderes-Tauride , and Kırşehir Block in the south. This study aims to the restoration of these suture zones in central Anatolia using paleomagnetic tools during Neogene. Most of the paleomagnetic studies carried out in the region consider the deformation of Anatolian Block as a monolithic block rotated counter-clockwise due to escape tectonics since the Miocene. We introduce new paleomagnetic evidence obtained from Neogene sedimentary successions and few volcanic suits. Our results point out five distinct tectonic domains with distinct rotation patterns that indicate the rotational deformation of Central Anatolia is far more complex than generally presumed. Among these, 1) Kırıkkale-Bala Domain (KB) is rotated ~18° clockwise, 2) the Tuz Gölü Domain (TG) underwent ~15° counter-clockwise rotation, 3) the Alcı-Orhaniye Domain (AO) rotated ~25° counter-clockwise sense, 4) the Haymana Basin is divided into two different domains, (4) the Northern Haymana Domain (NHY) underwent ~17° counter-clockwise rotation while (5) the Southern Haymana Domain (SHY) underwent barely no net rotation (~5° clockwise) since the early Miocene. The Kırşehir Block was proposed to be an NNE-SSW striking tectonic block that broken into three fragments. These fragments underwent clockwise, in the north, and counterclockwise rotations in the south, respectively, during early Tertiary due to collision and N-S shortening of the Kırşehir Block between Taurides and the Pontides.