1ST PALEOMAGNETIC EVIDENCE FOR A POSTEOCENE CLOCKWISE ROTATION OF THEWESTERN TAURIDES THRUST BELT EAST OF THE ISPARTA REENTRANT (SOUTHWESTERN TURKEY)

A paleomagnetic study was carried out on 23 sites sampled in Paleocene , Eocene and Lower Miocene sedimentary formations of the Western Tauri des belt east of the Isparta reentrant. The paleomagnetic data, based on twelve suitable sites, record a coherent post-Eocene approximately 40-degrees clockwise rotation throughout the area studied. We interpre t this regional rotation as a semi-rigid rotation of the whole Western Taurides belt above a major deep decollement level. Together with pre viously published data, these new results suggest that the Isparta ree ntrant would result from diachronous opposite rotations of the two bra nches: first a late Eocene-Oligocene clockwise rotation of the Akseki- Beysehir Taurides initiating the Tauride arc, and then anticlockwise r otation of the Lycian Taurides, probably during Middle Miocene times.