Latest Carboniferous–Early Permian Rifting of the Northern Gondwanan Margin and the Opening of the Northern Neotethys: New Evidence from the Carboniferous and Permian Foraminiferal Assemblages from the Beysehir-Hoyran Nappes, Central Taurides (Southern Turkey)

Abstract

The Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes, one of the tectonostratigraphic units of the Taurides, are thought to be originated from the Izmir-Ankara Ocean (northern branch of Neotethys). In this study, Late Paleozoic rock units from the blocks of Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes were studied in detail using foraminiferal assemblages in two different locations from the southwest of Karaman City (southern Turkey). In both places, blocks/slices and pebbles of various origins are embedded within a highly sheared matrix of Late Cretaceous Age, and the whole unit can be regarded as a sedimentary mélange. The ages of the blocks from the southwest of Karaman City range from the Late Serpukhovian (Late Mississippian) to Late Capitanian (Middle Permian) with some depositional breaks (e.g., Bashkirian, Kasimovian). Combined with the previous data from the Mersin Mélange, which also include the remnants of the Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes, our new findings suggest that a shallowing-upward sequence, characterized by a shallow water environment with foraminifera-bearing limestones, was deposited over the Tournaisian pelagic sequence in the Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes till the Early Moscovian (Early Middle Pennsylvanian). This shallowing-upward sequence in the Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes could be related to the Late Paleozoic Glaciation on the Gondwana supercontinent (Glacial II), which resulted in a sea-level drop and deposition of platform carbonates during the Viséan–Early Moscovian (Middle Mississippian to Early Middle Pennsylvanian) time interval. The absence of the main part of the Middle-Upper Pennsylvanian deposits (continental phase during the Middle Moscovian–Middle Gzhelian) in the Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes can be mainly attributed to the occurrence of a mantle plume and partially to the effect of Late Paleozoic Gondwanan Glaciation (Glacial III). Progressive uplifting by the buoyant mantle plume material has resulted in rifting at the center of the basin where the Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes have deposited. The rifting process led to tectonic destabilization of the platform in the basin, causing accumulation of the Upper Gzhelian (uppermost Pennsylvanian) detrital limestone with broken and abraded foraminiferal shells. Following this, deep basinal conditions prevailed during the Late Asselian–Kungurian (Early Permian), as revealed in the Mersin Mélange, where radiolarian cherts are associated with continental within-plate lavas of extreme incompatible trace element enrichment. Similar processes were responsible for the continual deposition of detrital limestones in the same basin until the end of Late Capitanian (Middle Permian). Based on all these, the uplifting process followed by rift-related volcanic rocks and detrital limestones can be interpreted as the opening of the Izmir-Ankara Ocean (northern Neotethys).

Keywords

foraminifera / Carboniferous and Permian / Beyşehir-Hoyran Nappes / plume / rifting / Neotethys / paleontology

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