New Results on the Lithostratigraphy of the Kazdağ Massif in Northwest Turkey

Authors: MEHMET DURU, ŞÜKRÜ PEHLİVAN, YALÇIN ŞENTÜRK, FATMA YAVAŞ, HÜSEYİN KAR

Abstract: The high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Kazdağ mountain range, termed the Kazdağ Group, crop out as a tectonic window under the Karakaya Complex in northwestern Turkey. The Kazdağ Group forms a doubly plunging, NE-SW-trending anticliniorium. During our regional geological mapping of the Kazdağ Group, we have subdivided the metamorphic rocks into four formations. The lowermost unit is the Fındıklı formation, which comprises amphibole-gneiss, marble and minor amphibolite. It crops out mainly in the southern part of the Kazdağ Massif. The marble horizons within the Fındıklı formation have been named the Altınoluk and Babadağ marble members. The overlying unit, comprising metadunite and orthoamphibolite, is the Tozlu formation, which in turn is overlain by the Sarıkız marble. The uppermost unit, which crops out in the northern parts of Kazdağ Massif, is the Sutuven formation that comprises sillimanite-gneiss, migmatite and minor marble, amphibolite and granitic gneiss. All these formations underwent a common metamorphism and share a mutual foliation. The metamorphic rocks of the Kazdağ Group are in tectonic contact with the surrounding Permian to Miocene rocks and are intruded by the Oligo-Miocene granodiorites. The oldest rocks, which stratigraphically overlie the Kazdağ Group, are Pliocene and younger in age. There is no data on the chronostratigraphy of the Kazdağ Group, but the isotopic age of the latest metamorphism affecting the Kazdağ Group is Oligo-Miocene. The Kazdağ Group has attained its present tectonic position as a metamorphic core complex by domal uplift through post-Miocene detachment faults.

Keywords: Kazdağ, northwestern Turkey, metamorphic rocks, lithostratigraphy, extension, core complex

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