|
Article |
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Grant Institute, West Mains Road, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK
The Küre Complex, located in the Central Pontides of northern Turkey, is a c. 20 km thick pile of thrust-imbricated deep-sea sediments, intercalated with a dismembered ophiolite. The ophiolitic rocks include serpentinized harzburgite, massive gabbro (cumulate and isotropic), sheeted dykes and basic volcanic rocks. The extrusive rocks are mainly pillow lavas, sheet flows and lava breccias. Geochemical evidence of immobile major- and trace-elements and pyroxene chemistry indicate mid-ocean ridge (MOR) and volcanic arc basalt (VAB) compositions, and suggest that the Küre Ophiolite was generated above a subduction zone. Chrome spine1 analysis also supports this interpretation. In some thrust sheets the extrusives are depositionally overlain by hemi-pelagic shales, passing up into terrigenous turbidites and shales, which are up to several hundred metres thick in intact successions. Cyprus-type massive sulphides, interpreted as precipitates from black smokers, are located along the lava-sediment contact. Individual, intact sediment units, up to several kilometres thick within the Küre Complex are separated by narrow (up to 10 m wide) zones of intense shearing, layer-parallel extension and melange formation. Asymmetrical folds, reverse faults, thrusts and duplex structures throughout the Küre Complex indicate mainly northwards emplacement.
The Küre Complex is thought to have opened in the late Palaeozoic, as a marginal basin above a northward-dipping Palaeotethyan subduction zone, located along the southern margin of Eurasia. The Küre marginal basin later closed, in response to inferred southward subduction, leading to development of an accretionary prism, prior to late Jurassic time. The Küre Complex is unlikely to represent the main Palaeotethyan suture, as has been suggested in some earlier tectonic reconstructions. Regional comparisons with Dobrogea, Crimea and Caucasus suggest the Küre basin opened, then closed, along a south Eurasia active margin.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  A. H. F. Robertson Overview of tectonic settings related to the rifting and opening of Mesozoic ocean basins in the Eastern Tethys: Oman, Himalayas and Eastern Mediterranean regions Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2007; 282: 325 - 388. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A.I. Okay, O. Tuysuz, M. Satir, S. Ozkan-Altiner, D. Altiner, S. Sherlock, and R.H. Eren Cretaceous and Triassic subduction-accretion, high-pressure-low-temperature metamorphism, and continental growth in the Central Pontides, Turkey Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2006; 118: 1247 - 1269. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Morris, M. W. Anderson, J. Inwood, and A. H. F. Robertson Palaeomagnetic insights into the evolution of Neotethyan oceanic crust in the eastern Mediterranean Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2006; 260: 351 - 372. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. P. Rice, A. H. F. Robertson, and T. Ustaomer Late Cretaceous-Early Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Eurasian active margin in the Central and Eastern Pontides, northern Turkey Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2006; 260: 413 - 445. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. H. F. Robertson Contrasting modes of ophiolite emplacement in the Eastern Mediterranean region Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2006; 32: 235 - 261. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. I. Okay, M. Satir, and W. Siebel Pre-Alpide Palaeozoic and Mesozoic orogenic events in the Eastern Mediterranean region Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2006; 32: 389 - 405. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Saintot, R. A. Stephenson, S. Stovba, M.-F. Brunet, T. Yegorova, and V. Starostenko The evolution of the southern margin of Eastern Europe (Eastern European and Scythian platforms) from the Latest Precambrian- Early Palaeozoic to the Early Cretaceous Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 2006; 32: 481 - 505. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. H. F. Robertson, A. H. F. Robertson, T. Ustaomer, E. A. Pickett, A. S. Collins, T. Andrew, and J. E. Dixon Testing models of Late Palaeozoic-Early Mesozoic orogeny in Western Turkey: support for an evolving open-Tethys model Journal of the Geological Society, 2004; 161: 501 - 511. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. M. Stampfli Tethyan oceans Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2000; 173: 1 - 23. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. I. Okay Was the Late Triassic orogeny in Turkey caused by the collision of an oceanic plateau? Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2000; 173: 25 - 41. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. I. Okay and O. Tuysuz Tethyan sutures of northern Turkey Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 1999; 156: 475 - 515. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. S. COLLINS and A. H. F. ROBERTSON Processes of Late Cretaceous to Late Miocene episodic thrust-sheet translation in the Lycian Taurides, SW Turkey Journal of the Geological Society, 1998; 155: 759 - 772. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. H. F. Robertson, J. E. Dixon, S. Brown, A. Collins, A. Morris, E. Pickett, I. Sharp, and T. Ustaomer Alternative tectonic models for the Late Palaeozoic-Early Tertiary development of Tethys in the Eastern Mediterranean region Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 1996; 105: 239 - 263. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
