Evolution of the Lycian Allochthon, western Turkey, as a north-facing LatePalaeozoic to Mesozoic rift and passive continental margin

Regional tectono-stratigraphic analysis allows widely distributed outcrops of mainly Mesozoic sedimentary rocks within the Lycian Allochthon, SW Turke y, to be correlated and placed within four regionally developed thrust shee ts, the Karadag Thrust Sheet (lowest), the Teke Dere Thrust Sheet, the Koyc egiz Thrust Sheet (highest), and the Yavuz Thrust Sheet. The Karadag Thrust Sheet records Late Carboniferous, Lower and Upper Permian continental shel f/lagoonal deposition. The overlying Teke Dere Thrust Sheet includes a rift succession of Late Permian age that was subaerially exposed during much of the Triassic; a marine transgression followed in the Early Jurassic succee ded by subsidence that formed a continental slope from Middle Jurassic to P alaeocene times. The overlying Koycegiz Thrust Sheet records Upper Triassic oceanic crust (along a rifted margin), overlain by a Lower Jurassic carbon ate platform; this then subsided to form a continental slope that survived until Late Cretaceous times. The Lycian Allochthon is restored as a north-f acing Mesozoic rift and passive margin taking account of structural evidenc e indicating southward thrust emplacement and comparisons of sedimentary su ccessions. Mainly deep-water sediments of Triassic to Late Cretaceous age, preserved as blocks within mi lange units above the Lycian Thrust Sheets (L ayered Tectonic Mi lange and Ophiolitic Mt lange), are interpreted as deep- water sediments deposited on Mesozoic (Neotethyan) oceanic crust. Subductio n of the ocean basin proceeded from north to south, beginning with accretio n of oceanic-derived melange and disrupted thrust sheets. Debris was shed i nto a continentward-migrating flexural foredeep, initially located along th e distal edge of the continental margin in Campanian-Maastrichtian times; t his foredeep then propagated southwards in stages over more proximal contin ental crust (including an intra-platform basin). The first main stage of so utheastward propagation was in Palaeocene and Eocene times followed by a se cond stage in Oligocene-Miocene times. The Lycian Allochthon was finally em placed over the most proximal (southeasterly) foredeep (i.e. the Kas basin) in Late Miocene time. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.