Stratigraphic and metamorphic inversions in the central Menderes Massif: a new structural model

Abstract.

The Menderes Massif is a large area of dominantly Tertiary metamorphic rocks in western Turkey. It is bordered in the west by the Cycladic Metamorphic Complex with Eocene high-pressure/low-temperature (HP/LT) metamorphism. In the Central Menderes the Aydın mountains are made up of a thrust stack of Eocene age. At the base of the thrust stack, greenschist-facies Paleozoic metasediments of the Menderes Massif form an inverted stratigraphic sequence. The Barrovian-type metamorphism is also inverted with garnet-bearing metapelites lying over the lower-grade biotite-bearing metapelites. The P–T conditions in the garnet zone are estimated as 530°C and 8 kbar. This schist sequence of the central Menderes Massif is interpreted as the inverted lower limb of a major southward closing recumbent fold, with the southern Menderes Massif representing a section from the near hinge of this fold. The Paleozoic metamorphic rocks of the central Menderes Massif are tectonically overlain by gneiss klippen possibly originating from the sheared and southward translated core of the Menderes fold. Lying also tectonically over the Paleozoic metamorphic rocks is a major thrust sheet belonging to the Cycladic metamorphic complex. It consists of garnet micaschist, Mesozoic marble, serpentinite and amphibolitised eclogite. Although it has a highly sheared internal structure, it probably represents an initially coherent sequence that has undergone HP/LT metamorphism during the Eocene. The Aydın mountains are dominated by contractional structures with subordinate extensional structures.