Bitlis Suture Zone

Ivan Eduardo Ferreira

Geology of the Middle East (501) - 2022

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Taken from Gülen, 1989 2
Tectonic Setting

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Geological Setting

Taken from Cemal, 2019 4

• Geologically Turkey consists of a mosaic of several terranes, which
were amalgamated during the Alpide orogeny.

Wikimedia 5
Taken from Parlak et al, 2009 6
Taken from Yan et al, 2021 7
Modified from Hempton, 1985

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Taken from Karatas and Boulton, 2019

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Taken from Hempton, 1985
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Summary
• Ophiolites were obducted to the south over the continental margin of
Arabia, deforming the northern edge of this margin.
• The Elazig Complex island arc and marginal basin evolved until the
middle Eocene. The marginal basin grew larger and filled with
volcaniclastics and volcanics of the Maden Complex.
• By the late Miocene, continued convergence across the suture zone
deformed shallow carbonate and foreland basins to the south.

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Summary
• Continued convergence led to more crustal shortening and
thickening, accommodated by numerous small-displacement faults.
• The internal deformation of the Turkish qnecIranian plateau in the
hinterland of the Bitlis Suture creates strike-slip faults that form
rhomboidal structures.

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References
• Hempton, M. (1982). Structure of the Northern Margin of the Bitlis Suture Zone
near Sivrice, Southeastern Turkey. State University of New Yok at Albany.
• Hempton, M. R. (1985). Structure and deformation history of the Bitlis suture
near Lake Hazar, southeastern Turkey. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 96,
233–243. http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-
pdf/96/2/233/3444937/i0016-7606-96- 2-233.pdf
• Seyitoğlu, G., Esat, K., Kaypak, B., Toori, M., & Aktuğ, B. (2019). Internal
Deformation of Turkish–Iranian Plateau in the Hinterland of Bitlis–Zagros Suture
Zone. In Developments in Structural Geology and Tectonics (Volume 3, pp. 161–
244). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-815048-1.00010-x
• Parlak, O, Rızaoğlu, T., Bağcı, U., Karaoğlan, F., Höck, V. Tectonic significance of the
geochemistry and petrology of ophiolites in southeast Anatolia, Turkey.
Tectonophysics V. 493. pp 173-187.
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