Active deformation pattern in the western flank of the central Taurides, southern margin of the central Anatolian plateau: inferences from geomorphic markers and kinematic indicators

Abstract

The southwestern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau corresponds to the upper crust of the subduction between African and Anatolian plates, with a high relief of up to 2 km. This mountainous region has distinctive geomorphological features and presents a unique setting to investigate the mechanism of orogenic plateau margin development related to subduction and topographic evolution around the Eastern Mediterranean. We present new kinematic data from exposed fault planes and tectonic landforms from high-resolution digital elevation models to elucidate the deformation pattern and its relation with the crustal deformation. We evaluate the deformation pattern based on the spatial distribution of kinematic analyses and geomorphic markers like low relief upland surfaces, disrupted karst basins, knickpoints, and deep bedrock incisions from watershed to shoreline. Our geomorphic analysis reveals a post-orogenic transient actively deforming topography. The geomorphic markers constrain long-term surface uplift pattern with a mean cumulative surface uplift of 1,710 ± 50 m and shows an increasing trend from west to east, from 1,600 ± 50 to 1,800 ± 50 m. Our results suggest a dome-like uplift pattern in the west-east direction across the southern margin that reaches up to maximum cumulative uplift values in the quadrangle of Alanya-Başyayla-Ermenek-Gazipaşa. Our kinematic measurements along the youngest generation of faults revealed an active NE-SW extensional deformation across a broad 200 km zone in the north of the subduction. Our findings have significant implications for understanding the morphotectonic evolution and post-orogenic deformation in the plateau margins and geodynamic evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Key Points

River longitudinal profiles and low-relief upland surfaces indicated an increasing vertical deformation toward the eastern Central Taurides

Geomorphic markers constrained mean cumulative 1,710 ± 50 m surface uplift that peaks in the quadrangle of Alanya-Başyayla-Ermenek-Gazipaşa

Kinematic indicators from the youngest brittle structures revealed an active NE-SW extension above the Cyprus Subduction Zone