TY - JOUR A1 - Jolivet, Laurent A1 - Faccenna, Claudio A1 - Huet, Benjamin A1 - Labrousse, Loic A1 - Le Pourhiet, Laetitia A1 - Lacombe, Olivier A1 - Lecomte, Emmanuel A1 - Burov, Evguenii A1 - Denele, Yoann A1 - Brun, Jean-Pierre A1 - Philippon, Melody A1 - Paul, Anne A1 - Salaue, Gwenaelle A1 - Karabulut, Hayrullah A1 - Piromallo, Claudia A1 - Monie, Patrick A1 - Gueydan, Frederic A1 - Okay, Aral I. A1 - Oberhänsli, Roland A1 - Pourteau, Amaury A1 - Augier, Romain A1 - Gadenne, Leslie A1 - Driussi, Olivier T1 - Aegean tectonics strain localisation, slab tearing and trench retreat JF - Tectonophysics : international journal of geotectonics and the geology and physics of the interior of the earth N2 - We review the geodynamic evolution of the Aegean-Anatolia region and discuss strain localisation there over geological times. From Late Eocene to Present, crustal deformation in the Aegean backarc has localised progressively during slab retreat. Extension started with the formation of the Rhodope Metamorphic Core Complex (Eocene) and migrated to the Cyclades and the northern Menderes Massif (Oligocene and Miocene), accommodated by crustal-scale detachments and a first series of core complexes (MCCs). Extension then localised in Western Turkey, the Corinth Rift and the external Hellenic arc after Messinian times, while the North Anatolian Fault penetrated the Aegean Sea. Through time the direction and style of extension have not changed significantly except in terms of localisation. The contributions of progressive slab retreat and tearing, basal drag, extrusion tectonics and tectonic inheritance are discussed and we favour a model (I) where slab retreat is the main driving engine, (2) successive slab tearing episodes are the main causes of this stepwise strain localisation and (3) the inherited heterogeneity of the crust is a major factor for localising detachments. The continental crust has an inherited strong heterogeneity and crustal-scale contacts such as major thrust planes act as weak zones or as zones of contrast of resistance and viscosity that can localise later deformation. The dynamics of slabs at depth and the asthenospheric flow due to slab retreat also have influence strain localisation in the upper plate. Successive slab ruptures from the Middle Miocene to the late Miocene have isolated a narrow strip of lithosphere, still attached to the African lithosphere below Crete. The formation of the North Anatolian Fault is partly a consequence of this evolution. The extrusion of Anatolia and the Aegean extension are partly driven from below (asthenospheric flow) and from above (extrusion of a lid of rigid crust). KW - Backarc extension KW - Slab retreat KW - Asthenospheric flow KW - Strain localisation KW - Aegean Sea KW - Metamorphic core complex Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2012.06.011 SN - 0040-1951 VL - 597 SP - 1 EP - 33 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pourteau, Amaury A1 - Oberhänsli, Roland A1 - Candan, Osman A1 - Barrier, Eric A1 - Vrielynck, Bruno T1 - Neotethyan closure history of western Anatolia: a geodynamic discussion JF - International journal of earth sciences N2 - This paper addresses the lithosphere-scale subduction-collision history of the eastern termination of the Aegean retreating subduction system, i.e. western Anatolia. Although there is some general consensus on the protracted subduction evolution of the Aegean since the early Cenozoic at least, correlation with western Anatolia has been widely debated for more than several decades. In western Anatolia, three main tectonic configurations have been envisaged in the past years to reconstruct slab dynamics during the closure of the Neotethyan oceanic realm since the Late Cretaceous. Some authors have suggested an Aegean-type scenario, with the continuous subduction of a single lithospheric slab, punctuated by episodic slab roll-back and trench retreat, whereas others assumed a discontinuous subduction history marked by intermittent slab break-off during either the Campanian (ca. 75 Ma) or the Early Eocene (ca. 55-50 Ma). The third view implies three partly contemporaneous subduction zones. Our review of these models points to key debated aspects that can be re-evaluated in the light of multidisciplinary constraints from the literature. Our discussion leads us to address the timing of subduction initiation, the existence of hypothetical ocean basins, the number of intervening subduction zones between the Taurides and the Pontides, the palaeogeographic origin of tectonic units and the possibility for slab break-off during either the Campanian or the Early Eocene. Thence, we put forward a favoured tectonic scenario featuring two successive phases of subduction of a single lithospheric slab and episodic accretion of two continental domains separated by a continental trough, representing the eastern end of the Cycladic Ocean of the Aegean. The lack of univocal evidence for slab break-off in western Anatolia and southward-younging HP/LT metamorphism in continental tectonic units (from similar to 85, 70 to 50 Ma) in the Late Cretaceous-Palaeogene period suggests continuous subduction since similar to 110 Ma, marked by roll-back episodes in the Palaeocene and the Oligo-Miocene, and slab tearing below western Anatolia during the Miocene. KW - Subduction KW - Anatolia KW - Aegean KW - Neotethys KW - Slab break-off KW - Slab roll-back Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-015-1226-7 SN - 1437-3254 SN - 1437-3262 VL - 105 SP - 203 EP - 224 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pourteau, Amaury A1 - Sudo, Masafumi A1 - Candan, Osman A1 - Lanari, P. A1 - Vidal, O. A1 - Oberhänsli, Roland T1 - Neotethys closure history of Anatolia - insights from Ar-40-Ar-39 geochronology and P-T estimation in high-pressure metasedimentary rocks JF - Journal of metamorphic geology N2 - The multiple high-pressure (HP), low-temperature (LT) metamorphic units of Western and Central Anatolia offer a great opportunity to investigate the subduction-and continental accretion-related evolution of the eastern limb of the long-lived Aegean subduction system. Recent reports of the HP-LT index mineral Fe-Mg-carpholite in three metasedimentary units of the Gondwana-derived Anatolide-Tauride continental block (namely the Afyon Zone, the Oren Unit and the southern Menderes Massif) suggest a more complicated scenario than the single-continental accretion model generally put forward in previous studies. This study presents the first isotopic dates (white mica Ar-40-Ar-39 geochronology), and where possible are combined with P-T estimates (chlorite thermometry, phengite barometry, multi-equilibrium thermobarometry), on carpholite-bearing rocks from these three HP-LT metasedimentary units. It is shown that, in the Afyon Zone, carpholite-bearing assemblages were retrogressed through greenschist-facies conditions at c. 67-62 Ma. Early retrograde stages in the Oren Unit are dated to 63-59 Ma. In the Kurudere-Nebiler Unit (HP Mesozoic cover of the southern Menderes Massif), HP retrograde stages are dated to c. 45 Ma, and post-collisional cooling to c. 26 Ma. These new results support that the Oren Unit represents the westernmost continuation of the Afyon Zone, whereas the Kurudere-Nebiler Unit correlates with the Cycladic Blueschist Unit of the Aegean Domain. In Western Anatolia, three successive HP-LT metamorphic belts thus formed: the northernmost Tavsanli Zone (c. 88-82 Ma), the Oren-Afyon Zone (between 70 and 65 Ma), and the Kurudere-Nebiler Unit (c. 52-45 Ma). The southward younging trend of the HP-LT metamorphism from the upper and internal to the deeper and more external structural units, as in the Aegean Domain, points to the persistence of subduction in Western Anatolia between 93-90 and c. 35 Ma. After the accretion of the Menderes-Tauride terrane, in Eocene times, subduction stopped, leading to continental collision and associated Barrovian-type metamorphism. Because, by contrast, the Aegean subduction did remain active due to slab roll-back and trench migration, the eastern limb (below Southwestern Anatolia) of the Hellenic slab was dramatically curved and consequently teared. It therefore is suggested that the possibility for subduction to continue after the accretion of buoyant (e.g. continental) terranes probably depends much on palaeogeography. KW - Ar-40-Ar-39 geochronology KW - Anatolia KW - chlorite-phengite thermobarometry KW - high-pressure metasedimentary rocks Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jmg.12034 SN - 0263-4929 SN - 1525-1314 VL - 31 IS - 6 SP - 585 EP - 606 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER -