LATE PALEOGENE NEOGENE EVOLUTION OF THE TRIPLE JUNCTION REGION NEAR MARAS, SOUTH-CENTRAL TURKEY

The Maras region of Turkey includes the Anatolian-Arabian-African triple junction. The African-Arabian margin is marked by left-lateral transtension along the Dead Sea (Kara Su) rift. Motion on the Anatolian-Arabian boundary is partitioned between the left-lateral East Anatolian fault and a fold-thrust belt termed the Engizek zone, equivalent to the Bitlis suture further east. The African-Anatolian boundary lies along the Cyprus-Misis-Andirin trend and is expressed near the triple junction as the Aslantas-Iskenderun zone, now undergoing slow left-lateral transtension. The Neogene evolution of these boundaries is largely recorded in the stratigraphy and structure of the basins that lie along the Anatolian-Arabian (Lice basin) and Anatolian-African (Aslantas-Iskenderun basin) boundaries. These basins appear to have developed in the early Miocene along major strike-slip zones. Large half graben in the pre-Neogene 'basement' of the western (Misis-Andirin block) developed contemporaneously with motion on the Anatolian-African boundary. These extensional features evolved subsequent to the intense shattering of the Mesozoic carbonate sequence in the Misis-Andirin block and its mixing with panels of deep water Palaeogene strata to form an extensionally disrupted assemblage. Transpression and conversion of both Anatolian-African and Anatolian-Arabian boundaries to fold-thrust belts occurred in the late Miocene. Transpression continues along the Anatolian-Arabian boundary but transtension has recurred along the Anatolian-African boundary since the Pliocene.