Fission‐track evidence for late Oligocene and mid‐Miocene activity along the North Anatolian Fault in south‐western Thrace

Abstract

AbstractApatite fission‐track (FT) analyses of sandstone samples collected across the trace of the Ganos segment of the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) in south‐western Thrace (Turkey) indicate that a significant structural discontinuity was in existence at least by the latest Oligocene. Such discontinuity had a complex kinematic history, as exhumation south of it occurred during the latest Oligocene and north of it during the mid‐Miocene. Our data imply that early Pliocene westward propagation of the NAF in the Marmara region followed a pre‐existing structural discontinuity; such discontinuity could be related to the development of the Intra‐Pontide Suture, marking the terminal closure of the Intra‐Pontide Ocean during the Oligocene.