Bivergent extension in orogenic belts: The Menderes massif (southwestern Turkey)

The central Menderes massif is characterized by an overall dome-shaped foliation pattern and a north-northeast-trending stretching lineation. The asymmetry of shear bands and quartz c-axis fabrics on either side of the structural dome demonstrate a top to the north-northeast shear sense in the northern part and a top to the south-southwest shear sense in the southern part of the submassif, i.e., a bivergent downdip movement. This suggests a symmetric collapse of the Alpine Menderes orogenic belt along two extensional shear zones. Conjugate shear bands and symmetric quartz c-axis fabrics in the east-trending transition zone demonstrate a coaxial deformation between the two extension domains.…

Eclogites within the Menderes Massif / western Turkey

Metagabbros in the core series of the Menderes Massif, for some time considered as post orogenic Miocene intrusives, revealed a strong poly-metamorphic history. The metagabbro bodies exhibit a pronounced zonation. Within their cores, igneous minerals are still preserved. Coronitic textures are interpreted as results of a high temperature, possibly granulitic overprint. The outer parts of the metagabbro bodies mostly consist of strongly to completely retrograded gamet-amphibo-lites, but occasionally contain relies of eclogites. Petrologic investigations confirmed a high pressure overprint and allowed preliminary P, T estimates (650 degrees C, equal to or greater than 1.3 GPa). The intensity …

Revision of "Leptite-gneisses" in the Menderes Massif: a supracrustal metasedimentary origin

The Pan-African basement of the Menderes Massif comprises a regular lithological succession that reaches a thickness of 8 km, the oldest units of which are, in ascending order, so-called leptite-gneisses, a quartzite-sequence transition zone and mica schists. New findings suggest that the protoliths for the leptite-gneisses, proposed to be of volcanic origin in previous studies, were predominantly elastic sediments of litharenitic composition, Geochemical data indicate that the protoliths for the leptite-gneisses were of cratonic provenance. Because they have undergone Pan-African polymetamorphism and are intruded by approximately 550 Ma gneisses of granitic origin, it is believed that the …

Pan-African high-pressure metamorphism in the Precambrian basement of the Menderes Massif, western Anatolia, Turkey

The Menderes Massif is made up of Pan-African basement and a Paleozoic to Early Tertiary cover sequence imbricated by Late Alpine deformation. The Precambrian basement comprises primarily medium- to high-grade schists, paragneisses, migmatites, orthogneisses, metagranites, charnockites, and metagabbros. High-pressure relies in the Pan-African basement are divided into two groups: eclogites and eclogitic metagabbros. The mineral assemblage in the eclogites is omphacite (Jd 44)-garnet-clinozoisite-rutile. The eclogites occur as pods and boudinaged layers in the basement schists and paragneisses. Inclusions found in the cores of the garnets indicate a medium-pressure protolith. The eclogitic m…

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