Pervasive Palaeogene remagnetization of the central Taurides fold-and-thrust belt (southern Turkey) and implications for rotations in the Isparta Angle

Abstract

The Turkish Anatolide–Tauride block rifted away from the northern margin of Gondwana in the Triassic, which gave way to the opening of the southern Neo-Tethys. By the late Palaeocene to Eocene, it collided with the southern Eurasian margin, leading to the closure of the northern Neo-Tethys ocean. To determine the position of the Anatolide–Tauride block with respect to the African and Eurasian margin we carried out a palaeomagnetic study in the central Taurides belt, which constitutes the eastern limb of the Isparta Angle. The sampled sections comprise Carboniferous to Palaeocene rocks (mainly limestones). Our data suggest that all sampled rocks are remagnetized during the late Palaeocene to Eocene phase of folding and thrusting event, related to the collision of the Anatolide–Tauride block with Eurasia. To further test the possibility of remagnetization, we use a novel end-member modelling approach on 174 acquired isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) curves. We argue that the preferred three end-member model confirms the proposed remagnetization of the rocks. Comparing our data to the post-Eocene declination pattern in the central Tauride belt, we conclude that our clockwise rotations are in agreement with data from other studies. After combining our results with previously published data from the Isparta Angle (that includes our study area), we have reasons to cast doubt on the spatial and temporal extent of an earlier reported early to middle Miocene remagnetization event. We argue that the earlier reported remagnetized directions from Triassic rocks—in tilt corrected coordinates—from the southwestern Antalya Nappes (western Taurides), are in good agreement with other studies from the area that show a primary origin of their characteristic remanent magnetization. This implies that we document a clockwise rotation for the southwestern Antalya Nappes since the Triassic that is remarkably similar to the post-Eocene (∼40°) rotation of the central Taurides. For the previously published results that are clearly remagnetized, we argue that their remagnetization has occurred in the Palaeocene to Eocene.