TY - JOUR

T1 - Late Cenozoic cooling history of the central Menderes Massif

T2 - Timing of the Büyük Menderes detachment and the relative contribution of normal faulting and erosion to rock exhumation

AU - Wölfler, Andreas

AU - Glotzbach, Christoph

AU - Heineke, Caroline

AU - Nilius, Nils Peter

AU - Hetzel, Ralf

AU - Hampel, Andrea

AU - Akal, Cüneyt

AU - Dunkl, István

AU - Christl, Marcus

N1 - Funding information: We thank A. Niehus (Universität Münster) for help in the lab during preparation of the 10 Be samples and V. Rapelius (Universität Münster) for ICP analyses. Funding for this study was provided by the Leibniz Universität Hannover (start-up funds to A. Hampel) and the German Research Foundation (grants HE 1704/18-1 and GL 724/7-1 to R. Hetzel and C. Glotzbach). Constructive reviews by M. Bernet, L. Jolivet, and U. Ring helped to improve the manuscript.

PY - 2017/10/16

Y1 - 2017/10/16

N2 - Based on new thermochronological data and 10Be-derived erosion rates from the southern part of the central Menderes Massif (Aydın block) in western Turkey, we provide new insights into the tectonic evolution and landscape development of an area that undergoes active continental extension. Fission-track and (U-Th)/He data reveal that the footwall of the Büyük Menderes detachment experienced two episodes of enhanced cooling and exhumation. Assuming an elevated geothermal gradient of ~ 50 °C/km, the first phase occurred with an average rate of ~ 0.90 km/Myr in the middle Miocene and the second one in the latest Miocene and Pliocene with a rate of ~ 0.43 km/Myr. The exhumation rates between these two phases were lower and range from ~ 0.14 to ~ 0.24 km/Myr, depending on the distance to the detachment. Cosmogenic nuclide-based erosion rates for catchments in the Aydın block range from ~ 0.1 to ~ 0.4 km/Myr. The similarity of the erosion rates on both sides of the Aydın block (northern and southern flank) indicate that a rather symmetric erosion pattern has prevailed during the Holocene. If these millennial erosion rates are representative on a million-year timescale they indicate that, apart from normal faulting, erosion in the hanging wall of the Büyük Menderes detachment fault did also contribute to the exhumation of the metamorphic rocks.

AB - Based on new thermochronological data and 10Be-derived erosion rates from the southern part of the central Menderes Massif (Aydın block) in western Turkey, we provide new insights into the tectonic evolution and landscape development of an area that undergoes active continental extension. Fission-track and (U-Th)/He data reveal that the footwall of the Büyük Menderes detachment experienced two episodes of enhanced cooling and exhumation. Assuming an elevated geothermal gradient of ~ 50 °C/km, the first phase occurred with an average rate of ~ 0.90 km/Myr in the middle Miocene and the second one in the latest Miocene and Pliocene with a rate of ~ 0.43 km/Myr. The exhumation rates between these two phases were lower and range from ~ 0.14 to ~ 0.24 km/Myr, depending on the distance to the detachment. Cosmogenic nuclide-based erosion rates for catchments in the Aydın block range from ~ 0.1 to ~ 0.4 km/Myr. The similarity of the erosion rates on both sides of the Aydın block (northern and southern flank) indicate that a rather symmetric erosion pattern has prevailed during the Holocene. If these millennial erosion rates are representative on a million-year timescale they indicate that, apart from normal faulting, erosion in the hanging wall of the Büyük Menderes detachment fault did also contribute to the exhumation of the metamorphic rocks.

KW - Continental extension

KW - Cosmogenic nuclides

KW - Detachment faulting

KW - Erosion

KW - Low-temperature thermochronology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85031898883&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.tecto.2017.07.004

DO - 10.1016/j.tecto.2017.07.004

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85031898883

VL - 717

SP - 585

EP - 598

JO - TECTONOPHYSICS

JF - TECTONOPHYSICS

SN - 0040-1951

ER -