The Çele mafic complex: Evidence for Triassic collision between the Sakarya and İstanbul Zones, NW Turkey

The lowest structural levels of the İstanbul Zone are exposed in the Sünnice Massif, north of Bolu. They comprise the greenschist-facies Ediacaran calc-alkaline bimodal Yellice metavolcanics, which are intruded by the Dirgine granitoid. Amphibolite-facies mafic and subordinate ultramafic rocks of the Çele mafic complex, hitherto termed the Çele meta-ophiolite, include hornblende gneisses of island arc meta-tholeiitic and transitional to calc-alkaline metagabbroic compositions, and were previously thought to be part of the İstanbul Zone basement. Together with minor serpentinized troctolite and harzburgite lenses, they are exposed in a broadly antiformal structure beneath the Yellice metavolcanics. Although these rocks structurally underlie, and, on account of their higher metamorphic grade, were previously thought to be older than the Ediacaran–Cambrian rocks of the İstanbul Zone basement, their oldest isotopic dates are Permian, indicating that they are instead much younger than the overlying rocks, from which they must be divided by an (inferred) İstanbul Zone basal thrust. Instead, these mafic rocks may be linked to the Almacık Complex, and hence interpreted as the underthrust crustal base to a Permo–Triassic active continental margin attached to the Gondwana-derived Sakarya Zone now located south of the İstanbul Zone. Triassic and Jurassic metamorphic ages record compressional events marking a Cimmerian event closing the Palaeotethys Ocean.

Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights
► Mafic rocks of Sünnice Massif in NW Turkey are Permian, opposed to Precambrian or Cretaceous ages.
► They formed on the northern fringe of the Sakarya Zone and metamorphosed during Triassic.
► They underthrust the İstanbul Zone along İstanbul Zone basal thrust (İBBT).
► They were exhumed in footwall of a normal fault that reactivated the İBBT during Jurassic.
► They represent a Permo–Triassic active continental margin attached to Sakarya Zone.