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Sedimentary provenance from the evolving forearc-to-foreland Central Sakarya Basin, western Anatolia reveals multi-phase intercontinental collision
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  • Megan A Mueller,
  • Alexis Licht,
  • Clay Campbell,
  • Faruk Ocakoğlu,
  • Gui Aksit,
  • Grégoire Métais,
  • Pauline M. C. Coster,
  • K. Christopher Beard,
  • Michael Halford Taylor
Megan A Mueller
University of Connecticut, University of Connecticut

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Alexis Licht
University of Washington, University of Washington
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Clay Campbell
The University of Kansas, University of Kansas
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Faruk Ocakoğlu
Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir Osmangazi University
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Gui Aksit
University of Oregon, University of Oregon
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Grégoire Métais
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
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Pauline M. C. Coster
University of Kansas, University of Kansas
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K. Christopher Beard
University of Kansas, University of Kansas
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Michael Halford Taylor
University of Kansas, University of Kansas
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Abstract

Collision between the Pontides and Anatolide-Tauride Block along the İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture in Anatolia has been variously estimated from the Late Cretaceous to Eocene. It remains unclear whether this age range results from a protracted, multi-phase collision or differences between proxies of collision age and along strike. Here, we leverage the Cretaceous-Eocene evolution of the forearc-to-foreland Central Sakarya Basin system in western Anatolia to determine when and how collision progressed. New detrital zircon and sandstone petrography results indicate that the volcanic arc was the main source of sediment to the forearc basin in the Late Cretaceous. The first appearance of Pontide basement-aged detrital zircons, in concert with exhumation of the accretionary prism and a decrease in regional convergence rates indicates intercontinental collision initiated no later than 76 Ma. However, this first contractional phase does not produce thick-skinned deformation and basin partitioning until ca. 54 Ma, coeval to regional syn-collisional magmatism. We propose three non-exclusive and widely applicable mechanisms to reconcile the observed ~20 Myr delay between initial intercontinental collision and thick-skinned upper plate deformation: relict basin closure north and south of the İAES, gradual underthrusting of thicker lithosphere, and Paleocene slab breakoff. These mechanisms highlight the links between upper plate deformation and plate coupling during continental collision.
Mar 2022Published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems volume 23 issue 3. 10.1029/2021GC010232