Eocene-Oligocene paleogeographic/paleotectonic reconstructions of the Rhodopian – northern Aegean – western BlackSea region largely ignore the Thrace Basin, a large sedimentary basin up to 9 km thick that has been long interpreted asa forearc basin developed in a context of northward subduction. Recent structural, stratigraphic, petrologic, and sedimentologicdata challenge this notion and may instead be interpreted within a context of upper-plate extension during thecomplex transition between the collisional tectonic regime related to the closure of Vardar-İzmir-Ankara oceanic realmand the extensional regime characterizing the Oligocene-Neogene evolution of the Aegean and peri-Aegean regions. Thedetritus filling the Thrace Basin was derived from two main sediment source areas: (i) the mostly metamorphic terrainsof the Rhodopes to the west and (ii) the Vardar-İzmir-Ankara and Biga (intra-Pontide?) subduction-accretion prisms tothe southwest. During most of the Eocene-Oligocene, the entire basin was characterized by a complex physiography, asshown by commercial seismic lines in the subsurface and abrupt lateral facies change at the surface. Such physiographywas controlled by a series of basement highs trending from WNW-ESE (in the eastern and northern portions of thebasin) to WSW-ENE (in the western and southern portions of the basin) which influenced sediment dispersal and theareal distribution of paleoenvironments.
Petrostratigraphic evolution of the Thrace Basin (Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey) within the context of Eocene-Oligocene post-collisional evolution of the Vardar-İzmir-Ankara suture zone
CRITELLI, Salvatore;
2013-01-01
Abstract
Eocene-Oligocene paleogeographic/paleotectonic reconstructions of the Rhodopian – northern Aegean – western BlackSea region largely ignore the Thrace Basin, a large sedimentary basin up to 9 km thick that has been long interpreted asa forearc basin developed in a context of northward subduction. Recent structural, stratigraphic, petrologic, and sedimentologicdata challenge this notion and may instead be interpreted within a context of upper-plate extension during thecomplex transition between the collisional tectonic regime related to the closure of Vardar-İzmir-Ankara oceanic realmand the extensional regime characterizing the Oligocene-Neogene evolution of the Aegean and peri-Aegean regions. Thedetritus filling the Thrace Basin was derived from two main sediment source areas: (i) the mostly metamorphic terrainsof the Rhodopes to the west and (ii) the Vardar-İzmir-Ankara and Biga (intra-Pontide?) subduction-accretion prisms tothe southwest. During most of the Eocene-Oligocene, the entire basin was characterized by a complex physiography, asshown by commercial seismic lines in the subsurface and abrupt lateral facies change at the surface. Such physiographywas controlled by a series of basement highs trending from WNW-ESE (in the eastern and northern portions of thebasin) to WSW-ENE (in the western and southern portions of the basin) which influenced sediment dispersal and theareal distribution of paleoenvironments.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
