Stratigraphic, structural and geochemical features of the NE-SW trending Neogene volcano-sedimentary basins in western Anatolia: Implications for associations of supra-detachment and transtensional strike-slip basin formation in extensional tectonic setting

Western Anatolia has been the focus of many geological studies of the classical extensional tectonics in the region. The NE-SW-trending Neogene volcano-sedimentary basins that characterize western Anatolia, are mainly located on the northern part of the Menderes Massif - a progressively exhumed mid-crustal metamorphic unit that has undergone Neogene extensional tectonics in the area. The NE-SW-trending basins are the Bigadic, Gordes, Demirci, Selendi, Emet, Cure and Usak basins. Although many studies have been carried out in these basins, the stratigraphic and tectonic evolution of the NE-SW-trending volcano-sedimentary basins remains controversial, and hence different evolutionary models have been proposed by various authors. Recent studies concluded that there was a close relation in both space and time between the basin formation and the progressive exhumation of the Menderes Massif. In this study, we present new stratigraphic, geochemical and tectonic observations from the Gordes, Demirci and Emet basins, and couple them with data from the other NE-SW-trending basins to produce a tectono-stratigraphic evolutionary model for the area