The rift-related Late Cretaceous Drowning of the Gumushane carbonate platform (NE Turkey)

In the Gümüs¸hane region (NE Turkey), carbonate platform and basin deposits, crop out with excellent exposures. In this area, two localities (Mescitli-Ikisu region, 10 km west of the Gümüs¸hane and Kale-Kilop region, 20 km southeast of the Gümüs¸hane), in which the related successions are particularly well exposed, have been studied in detail. The outcropping shallow water limestones of the Berdiga Formation (Eastern Pontides Carbonate Platform) were deposited during Late Jurassic Cenomanian p.p. times in peritidal environments. The overlying Kermutdere Formation consists of monogenic breccias, calciturbidites, red pelagic limestone and siliciclastic turbidites, which were deposited in slope and basin environments. In the Gümüs¸hane region, the above Formations record the evolution from platform to basin settings in relation to an extensional regime set up in the Cenomanian. The tectonics-related drowning of the Eastern Pontides carbonate platform resulted in graben-semi graben basins in which deep marine sediments were deposited during Late Cretaceous times, having a wedge geometry