Abstract

The Eldivan ophiolite, in the Ankara Mélange, represents the remnant of an ocean basin that developed in the İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan Ocean and collapsed the form the İzmir -Ankara-Erzincan suture zone (İAESZ) through continental block collision. Whole-rock and mineral geochemical evidence show supra-subduction zone tectonomagmatic affinity for the ophiolite, revealing this basin formed in the upper plate of an intra-oceanic subduction zone. Detrital zircon from the ophiolitic mélange sandstone and the overlying Karadağ Formation suggest the ophiolites maximum age is 143.2 (±2) Ma, and the overlying Karadağ Formation is 105.2 (±5) Ma. The angular unconformity between the ophiolite and Karadağ formation reveal that the Eldivan ophiolite was imbricated between 105.2 (±5) Ma and 143.2 (±2) Ma. Petrographic analysis of sandstone from the ophiolitic mélange reveals a source terrain of a volcanic arc rather than a continental source. Structural restoration of the sheeted dike complex reveals the back or intra-arc spreading ridge of the Eldivan ophiolite as NE-SW, oblique to the Sakarya-Pontide continental margin. Three phases of evolution for the Eldivan ophiolite are constrained by complied age data: a constructional, destructional, and suturing phase. The evolution is similar the Philippine Sea Plate and Mariana Trough and fits well within the framework of other eastern Mediterranean Tethyan ophiolites.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Geological Sciences

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2008-06-17

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd2423

Keywords

Ankara Melange, suture zone, ophiolite, SSZ, Tethys

Language

English

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