Preliminary results of paleomagnetism of Late Cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary rocks in the Eastern Pontides

Abstract

Geological evolution of Turkey includes several orogenic periods such as Alpine, Pan-African/ Cadomian, Variscan and Cimmerian and the region was formed as a result of the combination of many tectonostratigraphic units with tectonically different geological origins. Turkey is divided into four units as Pontides, Anatolides, Taurides and Flank Folds Belts. Among these tectonic units, the Pontides, which are in the north, are divided into three different regions as "Western Pontides", "Central Pontides" and "Eastern Pontides".To determine tectonic evolution (rotational and latitudinal movements) of Eastern Pontides during the Late Cretaceous period, oriented paleomagnetic core samples were collected 16 sites from volcanics and 19 sites from sedimentary rocks. A total of 449 oriented paleomagnetic core samples were collected a total of 35 paleomagnetic sites in 5 provinces and districts, including Trabzon, Gümüşhane, Erzincan, Giresun and Bayburt. The preliminary results obtained from this study show that there were latitudinal and rotational movements in the Late Cretaceous, and accordingly, this period may have been tectonically active for the study area.