Rockfall avalanche deposits associated with normal faulting in the NW of Cankiri basin: implications for the postcollisional tectonic evolution of the Neo-Tethyan suture zone

The NNE-trending Neo-Tethyan suture zone between Ankara and Cankiri, thrust s eastward onto different stratigraphic levels of the Neogene succession; h owever, its western side shows a normal fault relationship. This E-vergent tectonic sliver was inactive during the accumulation of the Miocene-Lower P liocene sedimentary succession and was created by the movement of the North Anatolian Fault Zone and its splay after the late Pliocene, indicating int ernal deformation of the Anatolian plate. These results are inconsistent wi th the previous suggestion that intracontinental convergence related to Neo -Tethyan orogeny continued until the Pliocene (Ankara Orogenic Phase).