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Presence and tectonic significance of Cretaceous rudist species in the so-called Permo-Carboniferous Göktepe Formation, central Menderes metamorphic massif, western Turkey

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Abstract

A schist sequence of the central Menderes Massif, in which lenses of fossiliferous marbles are found, is observed in the southern flank of the Aydın Mountain, north of Köşk (Aydın), around Eğrikavak village. These rocks have been considered as Permo-Carboniferous in age and are included in the Göktepe Formation of earlier studies. However, some rudist species are described from thickly bedded gray marbles that have a concordant contact with the overlying schist sequence. Although the rudists have been metamorphosed, it is observed that some contain fossils are well enough preserved to determine the following rudist fauna: Hippurites lapeirousei (GOLDFUSS), Hippurites nabresinensis FUTTERER, Hippurites cf. colliciatus WOODWARD. This rudist fauna dates the schist sequence as Santonian–Campanian. The schist sequence is overlain by a thick tectonostratigraphic pile of orthogneiss which has been interpreted as the Pan-African metamorphic core of the Menderes Massif. A widespread cataclastic and mylonitic zone is present between the underlying rudist-bearing marbles and the structurally overlying orthogneiss sequence. The existing kinematic studies in the footwall and hangingwall of this tectonic contact reveal two different phases of deformations, a contractional phase followed by an extensional phase. During the contractional event, which occurred at 36 Ma, the orthogneiss sequence was thrust faulted northwards over the schist sequence. This thrust fault was later reactivated as a low-angle normal fault beneath a supradetachment sedimentary basin of Early-Middle Miocene age. The fossil discoveries of this study and the existing kinematic studies reveal that a new structural model for the central Menderes Massif in which the tectonometamorphic units form a major southward closing recumbent fold needs to be reviewed.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey, project no YDABÇAG-279. The authors would like to thank Dokuz Eylül University for their financial contribution to fieldwork. An earlier version of the manuscript were improved by critical and helpful reviews by G. A. Davis and B. Clark Burchfiel.

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  1. Engineering Faculty, Department of Geology, Dokuz Eylül University, 35100 , Bornova-İzmir, Turkey

    Sacit Özer & Hasan Sözbilir

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Correspondence to Hasan Sözbilir.

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Özer, S., Sözbilir, H. Presence and tectonic significance of Cretaceous rudist species in the so-called Permo-Carboniferous Göktepe Formation, central Menderes metamorphic massif, western Turkey. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 92, 397–404 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-003-0333-z

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