Tectonostratigraphic relationships between the North Anatolian Thrust Zone (NATZ), and the Kirsehir Massif to the north of Sivas (Turkey)

Abstract

In Central Anatolia, to the north of Sivas, the remains of the Northern Neotethyan domain crops out in a system of south verging thrust slices intercalated between the Eurasiatic margin (Tokat Massif), and the Taurus. In these nappes, sedimentary sequences have recorded the last steps of the Neotethyan evolution during the Late Cretaceous and of its closure during Palaeogene times. An ophiolitic melange is dated as Cenomano-Turonian or older and the thrusting of the Neotethyan nappes onto the Taurus belt (which corresponds to the closure of the Neotethys), is pre-Cuisian.