Stratigraphy and Ar/Ar geochronology of the Miocene lignite-bearing Tuncbilek-Domanic Basin, western Anatolia

The Tuncbilek-Domani Basin is one of the Neogene basins containing economic coal deposits in western Anatolia, Turkey. The basin fill represents fluvial to lacustrine sedimentary units which are interlayered with volcanic rocks with bimodal composition. In order to reveal the stratigraphy and the exact ages of the basin fill and coal deposits, and to explore the tectonic evolution of the basin, we present new field data and Ar/Ar age data from the volcanic units. The field studies and the age data indicate that the whole basin fills were deposited between similar to 23 and similar to 19 Ma (Aquitanian-Early Burdigalian) without any unconformity. Taking into account the ages of the coal-bearing sedimentary units in the other Neogene basins in the region, it is concluded that most of the economic coal deposits in the western Anatolia were formed during Aquitanian. The field studies also show that the deposition of the sedimentary units in the basin was controlled by the NE-SW-trending strike- to oblique-slip normal faults. In a regional scale, tectonic evolution of the Tuncbilek-Domanic Basin is linked to the differential stretching in the hanging wall of the southerly located, a crustal-scale low-angle detachment fault (the Simav detachment fault) that controlled the Early Miocene exhumation of the Menderes Extensional Core Complex.