- The Menderes Massif and the overlying Lycian Nappes occupy an extensive area of SW Turkey where high-pressure- low-temperature metamorphic rocks occur. Precise retrograde P-T paths reflecting the tectonic mechanisms responsible for the exhumation of these high-pressure-low-temperature rocks can be constrained with multi-equilibrium P-T estimates relying on local equilibria. Whereas a simple isothermal decompression is documented for the exhumation of high-pressure parageneses from the southern Menderes Massif, various P-T paths are observed in the overlying Karaova Formation of the Lycian Nappes. In the uppermost levels of this unit, far from the contact with the Menderes Massif, all P-T estimates depict cooling decompression paths. These high-pressure cooling paths are associated with top-to-the-NNE movements related to the Akcakaya shear zone, located at the top of the Karaova Formation. This zone of strain localization is a local intra-nappe contact that was active in the early stages of exhumation of the high-pressure rocks. InThe Menderes Massif and the overlying Lycian Nappes occupy an extensive area of SW Turkey where high-pressure- low-temperature metamorphic rocks occur. Precise retrograde P-T paths reflecting the tectonic mechanisms responsible for the exhumation of these high-pressure-low-temperature rocks can be constrained with multi-equilibrium P-T estimates relying on local equilibria. Whereas a simple isothermal decompression is documented for the exhumation of high-pressure parageneses from the southern Menderes Massif, various P-T paths are observed in the overlying Karaova Formation of the Lycian Nappes. In the uppermost levels of this unit, far from the contact with the Menderes Massif, all P-T estimates depict cooling decompression paths. These high-pressure cooling paths are associated with top-to-the-NNE movements related to the Akcakaya shear zone, located at the top of the Karaova Formation. This zone of strain localization is a local intra-nappe contact that was active in the early stages of exhumation of the high-pressure rocks. In contrast, at the base of the Karaova Formation, along the contact with the Menderes Massif, P-T calculations show decompressional heating exhumation paths. These paths are associated with severe deformation characterized by top-to-the-east shearing related to a major shear zone (the Gerit shear zone) that reflects late exhumation of high-pressure parageneses under warmer conditions…
