JURASSIC-CRETACEOUS PALEOMAGNETISM AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF THE PONTIDES(TURKEY)

Published paleomagnetic data from the Pontides indicate anomalously lo w Jurassic and Early Cretaceous paleolatitudes compatible with the sou thern Neo-Tethyan (African) continental margin and significantly diffe rent from paleolatitudes predicted for the northern (Eurasian) Neo-Tet hyan margin. We present a new set of paleomagnetic data from 50 Late C retaceous sites mainly from the Western Pontides and from the Eastern Pontides, and 11 Early Jurassic sites mainly from the Eastern Pontides . Fold tests indicate that the characteristic magnetization components predate Eocene folding. Late Cretaceous site mean declinations are no rtherly in the Eastern Pontides and rotated to the west by a few tens of degrees in the Western Pontides. Late Cretaceous site mean declinat ions are affected by local clockwise rotation in one sampling region c lose to the North Anatolian Fault. The mean Late Cretaceous inclinatio ns and resulting paleolatitudes are 41.1 degrees (23.5 degrees N) and 43.7 degrees (25.5 degrees N) for the Western and Eastern Pontides, re spectively. For the Eastern Pontides, the Early Jurassic (Liassic) mea n inclination is 60.5 degrees, yielding a paleolatitude of 41.4 degree s N, considerably further north than previous paleolatitude estimates for the Eastern Pontides at this time. The paleolatitude estimates for the Western and Eastern Pontides are consistent with these units bein g close to the Eurasian continental margin during Liassic and Late Cre taceous time.