The LA-ICP-MS Zircon U-Pb Ages from the Kuzgun Formation Constrain the Temporal Distribution of the Adana Basin (Southern Turkey)

This paper presents the first accurate zircon U-Pb dating of the tuff layer and the detrital zircon U-Pb data within the Miocene Adana Basin (S Turkey) located northeast of the Mediterranean Sea. The northeastern Mediterranean Neogene basins are primarily controlled by several arcuate NW-SW trending major faults related to the sinistral East Anatolian Fault. The Adana basin is one of the Miocene links between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. During the closure of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean and the convergence between the Afro-Arabian and Tauride-Anatolide platforms, the basin was deposited on the southern flank of the Central Tauride mountain chain system. The Oligocene-Recent succession of the basin was deposited in a foredeep basin, which formed as a result of the compressional tectonics south of the Tauride fold-and-thrust belt. The initial sedimentation has a terrestrial character, including river, lagoon, and intermontane environments during Oligocene. The Kuzgun Formation of the basin marks the shallow marine to terrestrial sedimentation of a regressive succession. The LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb age of the tuff layer within the Kuzgun Formation yields 6.97 +/- 0.05 Ma. The sandstones associated with the tuff layer indicate at least five different magmatic sources in the source region located north. The Central Anatolian Volcanic Province is the youngest source (similar to 13 Ma), whereas the late Cretaceous sources are related to the products of the subduction of the Inner Tauride Ocean beneath the Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex. The products of Variscan orogeny also fed the Adana Basin, however, the Neo-Proterozoic source is missing in the whole Tauride belt.