Tectonic evolution of the Cretaceous Ankara Ophiolitic Mélange during the Late Cretaceous to pre-Miocene interval in Central Anatolia, Turkey

The chaotic tectonic belt, which is distinguished in northern Anatolia, is called the – Ankara Accretionary Complex – in the Ankara region, central Anatolia. The belt is differentiated into three imbricated tectonic subbelts, namely, pre-Triassic metamorphics, Mélange with calcareous blocks and Cretaceous mélange with ophiolitic blocks (Ankara Ophiolitic Mélange).The Ankara Ophiolitic Mélange (AOM) is a chaotic tectono-sedimentary mixture made up of detached blocks of Mesozoic ultramafic rocks, Cretaceous pillow basalts, Cretaceous radiolarites, Upper Jurassic-Cretaceous limestones and closely associated Upper Cretaceous basinal sequences. The detached and dismembered blocks lie within a highly sheared and brecciated ophiolitic detrital matrix or a block-on-block to sheared sedimentary matrix that varies along the mélange belt. Cenomanian-Turonian and Turonian-Santonian trench-linked basin deposits onlap the Cenomanian sedimentary and Cretaceous ophiolitic mélanges. The elements of the ophiolitic mélange were comixed as a result of tectonic recycling in the accretionary wedge. The belt is unconformably overlain by Campanian-Maastrichtian to Paleogene accretionary fore-arc basin deposits.The AOM developed in an accretionary wedge setting in which oceanic leading edge of the Anatolide-Tauride platform subducted toward north during the post-Barremian–pre-Campanian period. The AOM emplaced episodically and progressively as a result of in thrust tectonics with vergence ranging from SSW to SE during the post-Turonian to pre-Miocene in the Ankara terrain.