Apatite fission-track thermochronology of the Western Pontides (NW Turkey)

The results of apatite fission-track analyses of the Western Pontides of NW Turkey point to three discrete episodes of Cenozoic exhumation correlatable with major supraregional tectonic events. (1) Paleocene\u2013early Eocene exhumation reflected the closure of the \u2d9Izmir\u2013Ankara ocean. (2) Late Eocene\u2013earliest Oligocene exhumation was the result of renewed tectonic activity along the \u2d9Izmir\u2013Ankara suture. (3) Late Oligocene\u2013early Miocene exhumation recorded the onset of northern Aegean extension. Samples collected north and south of the tectonic contact between the two terranes forming the Western Pontides (i.e. \u2d9Istanbul and Sakarya terranes) record the same cooling events, suggesting that such terranes were amalgamated in pre-Cenozoic times