International Geological Journal - Official Journal of the Carpathian-Balkan Geological Association

PALEOZOIC STRATIGRAPHY OF THE GEYİK DAĞI UNIT IN THE EASTERN TAURIDES (TURKEY): NEW AGE DATA AND IMPLICATIONS FOR GONDWANAN EVOLUTION

Published: Dec 2004

Pages: 433 - 447

Authors: M. CEMAL GONCUOGLU, YAKUT GONCUOGLU, HEINZ W. KOZUR,HUSEYIN KOZLU

Abstract: The stratigraphy of the Geyik Dağı Unit of the Eastern Taurides has been revised on the basis of new field observations from this critical tectono-stratigraphic unit. The Emirgazi Formation, of Precambrian age, is shown to occur throughout the whole Tauride Belt. The Çal Tepe Formation probably reaches the Upper Cambrian. The Cambrian-Ordovician boundary is close to the base of the Seydisehir Formation; the latter includes mixed carbonate-siliciclastic tempestites. Its upper part may be of late Middle Ordovician age. The stratigraphic gap between the Seydisehir and Sort Tepe Formations is the result of a thermal event, as recorded in many other places in the peri-Gondwanan terranes of Europe. The graptolite-bearing black shales of the Puscu Tepe Shale Formation of early Silurian age, overlying the glacier-related sediments of the Halit Yaylası Formation is a typical unit in most of the peri-Gondwanan terranes in S Europe and N Africa. The “Orthoceras Limestones” of the overlying Yukarı Yayla Formation are of latest Llandovery to earliest Wenlock and post–middle Ludlow age. The Lower Devonian basal quartzites of the Ayı Tepesi Formation are interpreted as overlying an unconformity, which may coincide with the stepwise detachment of some small microcontinents from Gondwana accompanying the opening of Paleotethys. The conformably overlying Safak Tepe Formation yielded Eifelian–Givetian conodonts and is overlain by the Gümüsali Formation of Frasnian–Famennian age. The Devonian-Carboniferous boundary is located within the black shales of the Ziyarettepe Formation. The deposition of these black shales seems to be related to an anoxic event. Although the available geological data in the Taurides are still too fragmentary to provide a comprehensive picture, the new findings may facilitate the correlation of the Eastern Tauride stratigraphic units with corresponding strata in the Central and Western Taurides and improve the understanding of Early to middle Paleozoic events in NE peri-Gondwana.

Keywords: Paleozoic, Eastern Taurides, Turkey, Gondwana, paleogeography, stratigraphy, conodonts

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