Strike-slip neotectonic regime and related structures in the Cappadocia region: a case study in the Salanda basin, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Authors: ALİ KOÇYİĞİT, UĞUR DOĞAN

Abstract: The study area is a strike-slip basin of approximately 1-9 km wide, 66 km long and N65°W trending, located between the historical Kesikköprü in the west and the Sarıhıdır settlement in the east along the northern side of the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province. It was evolved on a regional erosional surface of a pre-Quaternary volcanosedimentary sequence during Quaternary. This is evidenced by the stratigraphical, structural, and seismic data. The total amounts of throw and dextral strike-slip displacement accumulated on the basin-boundary faults during the evolutionary history of the basin are 178 m and 5 km, respectively. The average slip rate on the Salanda master fault is approximately 4 mm/year since the late early Pleistocene based on the total dextral strike-slip offset accumulated on it. The throw amount is small compared with the dextral strike-slip offset, which implies a strike-slip regime rather than a tensional tectonic regime in the basin. This is also supported by the combination of both the contractional and extensional structures such as reverse faults, fissure-ridge travertines, and a series of stepped terraces of late Quaternary age. Finally, it would be useful to take this paper into account in new works to be carried out in other sections of the Cappadocia region, because a new neotectonic regime (strike-slip tectonic regime) is first introduced here for this region.

Keywords: Central Anatolian Volcanic Province, Cappadocia, Salanda basin, strike-slip neotectonic regime, Kızılırmak River, Quaternary

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