| Continental
rifts and graben are the most prominent geological structures on the continental
crust that deformed under the control of extensional tectonics. Stress
is accommodated by weakness zones perpendicular to the orientation of these
depressions.
In
recent studies carried out in western Anatolia, a crustal scale zone of
weakness is found in a region located between Izmir and Balikesir. This
Izmir-Balikesir
transfer zone is bounded by the E-W trending Gediz, Küçük
Menderes and Büyük Menderes graben, the Menderes metamorphic
core complex and by related detachment faults from the west. In this zone
we find Paleozoic-Mesozoic rocks of the Karaburun belt and the Bornova
Flysch zone, sedimentary rocks of Eocene age, volcano-sedimentary rocks
of Neogene age, Plio-Quaternary units and Holocene-Recent sediments (see
the map below).
These
rocks associations belong to dissimilar basins that developed in different
time periods. The NE-trending basins and their boundary faults are also
known from the northern and eastern part of the Gediz graben.
| The
main subject of this study is to investigation of the NE-trending Neogene-Recent
basins and their structural features. The geological evolution and the
stress regime that caused stresses the Neogene to Recent basins will be
established. This includes the study of rotations.
To
do this, we will:
1
- study certain key areas within the NE-trending basins at 1:25.000 scale,
2
- determine the age of the rock units by Ar/Ar dating and paleontology,
3
- establish the geometry and kinematic features of faults that (de)formed
the basin fill and
4
- carry out paleomagnetic studies to determine the style and amount of
rotation. |
 |
The
data obtained from the field and laboratory studies will establish for
the first time the contribution of NE-trending weak zones to the N-S extensional
tectonics of western Anatolia that were claimed to have been formed since
the Oligocene.
and
the role and significance of zone of weaknesses developed parallel to the
orientation of extension in western Anatolia.
These
studies will be carried out together with staff members from Dokuz Eylül
University (Izmir) and Middle East Technical University (Ankara). This
project supports three PhD students and one MSc student.
Bora
Uzel is supervised by Hasan Sözbilir, Nuri
Kaymakci and Cor Langereis |
2011
-
Özkaymak,
Ç, Sözbilir, Uzel, B. and Akyüz, H.S. (2011). Geological
and palaeoseismological evidence for Late Pleistocene-Holocene activity
on the Manisa Fault Zone, western Anatolia, Turkish Journal of Earth
Sciences, in press
-
Uzel,
B., Sözbilir, H. and Özkaymak, Ç. (2011). Neotectonic
Evolution of an Actively Growing Superimposed Basin in Western Anatolia:
The Inner Bay of Izmir, Turkey. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences,
in press.
2010
-
Sözbilir,
H., Sari, B., Uzel, B., Sumer, O. and Akkiraz, S. (2010). Tectonic
implications of transtensional supradetachment basin development in an
extension-parallel transferzone: the Kocacay Basin, western Anatolia, Turkey.
Basin
Research (2010) doi: 10.1111 / j.1365-2117 .2010.00496.x
2009
-
Helvaci,
C., Ersoy, E.Y., Sözbilir, H., Erkül, F.,Sümer, Ö.
and Uzel, B. (2009). Geochemistry and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of Miocene
volcanic rocks from the Karaburun Peninsula: Implications for amphibole-bearing
lithospheric mantle source, Western Anatolia, Journal of Volcanology
and Geothermal Research, 185, 181-202.
2008
-
Sözbilir,
H., Uzel, B., Sümer, Ö., Ýnci, U., Ersoy, Y., Koçer,
T., Demirtaþ, R. ve Özkaymak, Ç. (2008). Evidence for
a kinematically linked E-W trending Izmir Fault and NE-trending Seferihisar
Fault: Kinematic and paleoseismogical studies carried out on active faults
forming the Izmir Bay, Western Anatolia. Türkiye Jeoloji Bülteni,
51
(2), 91-114.
-
Uzel, B.
& Sözbilir, H. (2008). A First record of strike-slip basin in
western Anatolia and its tectonic implication: The Cumaovasi basin as an
example. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences, 17, 559-591.
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