Research Information System
TERRA NOVA, vol.8, no.6, pp.585-592, 1996 (SCI-Expanded)
The Mersin ophiolite, which is a relic of the late Cretaceous Neotethyan ocean domain in the eastern Mediterranean, is situated on the southern flank of the central Tauride belt. The ophiolite body is cross-cut at all structural levels by numerous mafic dyke intrusions. The dykes do not intrude the underlying melange of platform carbonates. Therefore, dyke emplacement post-dates the formation of the ophiolite and metamorphic sole but pre-dates the final obduction onto the Tauride platform. The post-metamorphic dyke swarms suggest the geochemical characteristics of Island Are Tholeiites (IAT). Ar-40/Ar-39 geochronology of the post-metamorphic microgabbroic-diabasic dykes cutting both mantle tectonites and metamorphic sole revealed ages ranging from 89.6 +/- 0.7-63.8 +/- 0.9 Myr old, respectively, indicating widespread magmatic activity during the Late Cretaceous-early Palaeocene in the Neotethyan ocean. These data suggest that island are development in the Neotethyan ocean in southern Turkey was as early as Late Cretaceous.