Publications

Western Turkey is an area which has experienced large-scale extension of continental crust. Here we report precise crystallization ages of two intrusions in the central Menderes Massif - the Turgutlu and Salihli granodiorites - using U-Pb dating. Both intrusions occur in the southern footwall of the seismically active Alaºehir graben and were emplaced syntectonically in an extensional top-NNE shear zone which was active at retrograde greenschist facies conditions. The U-Pb ages of 16.1 ± 0.2 Ma (monazite, Turgutlu granodiorite) and 15.0 ± 0.3 Ma (allanite, Salihli granodiorite) document that tectonic exhumation of middle-crustal rocks in the central Menderes Massif was already underway at the Early- to Middle Miocene transition. Combined with published geochronological, structural, and sedimentological data, the new U-Pb ages point to a continued extension since at least 16 Ma. There is no convincing evidence for a late Miocene/Pliocene phase of tectonic shortening.

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Glodny, J.; Hetzel, R. (2007): Precise U-Pb ages of syn-extensional Miocene intrusions in the central Menderes Massif, western Turkey. Geological Magazine, 144, 02, 235-246.