The Cankiri Basin in Central Anatolia has been studied in order to trace its deformation history since the Late Cretaceous. The Basin is a key area in central Turkey with an almost complete infill of Late Cretaceous to Recent, and a multiphase deformation history resulting in an `omega` shaped outline of the Izmir- Ankara- Erzincan Suture Zone around the Kirsehir block. The Cankiri basin is located between the Pontides and Taurides. The different compartments of the basin rotated during the indentation of the Kirsehir block.

The Cankiri basin comprises very thick post-Middle Eocene continental deposits, the ages of whch were not exactly known at the time. The ages given in the literature were based either on superposition or long distance correlations. With the help of Hans de Bruijn and his co- workers, most of the post-Middle Oligocene units were dated precisely by mammal stratigraphy.
 

One of the best sites for drilling.  In the background: Middle Eocene Limestone  thrusting over Oligocene red clastics. In the foreground: Dilara, Nuri's daughter.

Nuri drilling in a Late Miocene site, with Paul van Dijk (ITC) and Dilara, both preparing for him a good clay to sample.

Hans de Bruijn was always on-line with his GSM, and directing us where he found rodent teeth, the best tool for dating continental Neogene sediments.

The fieldwork does not always mean sampling. From time to time, the crew had to take care of Dilara, especially when she was naughty, e.g. strangling Charon Duermeijer.

The palaeomagnetic data in combination with palaeostress data and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility orientations were used to develop a tectonic evolutionary model for the Early Tertiary part of the Omega-shaped Cankiri Basin (Turkey). The results reveal clockwise rotations in the NE and anticlockwise rotations in the W and SE corner of the basin. The magnetic inclinations indicate a northward drift of the Cankiri Basin and support an indentation model for the Kirsehir Block. It is proposed that the shape of the Cankiri Basin was the result of indentation of the Kirsehir Block into the Sakarya Continent during northwards migration accompanying closure of Neotethys. It appears that the indentation started prior to Eocene and ended before Middle Miocene times.

(see also Kaymakci et al., 2003)

• Kaymakci, N., Duermeijer, C., Langereis, C.G., White, S.H. and van Dijk, P.M. (2003). Palaeomagnetic evolution of the Cankiri Basin (central Anatolia Turkey): implications for oroclinal bending due to indentation, Geol. Mag., 140 (3), 2003, pp. 343–355.