Palaeomagnetism of the Cappadocian Volcanic Succession, Central Turkey: Major ignimbrite emplacement during two short (Miocene) episodes and Neogene tectonics of the Anatolian collage

Abstract The Central Anatolian Volcanic Province in Cappadocia includes 13 high volume calc-alkaline ignimbrite sheets emplaced by plinian eruptions within a succession (the Urgup Formation) after ~ 10 Ma recording the last phase of Neotethyan subduction and accompanying emplacement of the Tauride orogen in southern Turkey. To evaluate magnetostratigraphy in the context of recent revisions of the chronostratigraphy we have extended palaeomagnetic investigation to 32 new sites yielding significant ChRM directions. Integrated rock magnetic and palaeomagnetic investigations identify magnetic remanence residing predominantly in Ti-poor titanomagnetites although secondary processes within the ignimbrite sheets, notably post-emplacement oxidation, have locally produced hematisation expressed by composite IRM spectra and variable reduction in intensity of magnetisation. The ignimbrite sheets possess weak anisotropies of magnetic susceptibility (AMS, mostly 3 of pyroclastic deposits during polarity chron C4r.1n between 9.31 and 9.43 Ma. Subsequent activity from the Acigol Centre further to the south west (Cemilkoy, Gelveri, Gordeles, and Kizilkaya) produced in excess of 620 km 3 of pyroclastic deposits during polarity chrons between 5.3 and 7.1 Ma. The younger Incesu ignimbrite was sourced in the Sultansazligi pull-apart basin to the east during the Gauss Chron (2.58–3.60 Ma). All pre-Incesu ignimbrites are rotated uniformly anticlockwise and the overall (reversed) group mean direction of magnetisation is D/I = 170.8/− 52.4° (N = 9, R = 8.91, α 95  = 5.4°, k = 91). The implied tectonic rotation in this sector of central Anatolia (16 ± 4° relative to Eurasia) is young and postdates the 5.3–7.1 Ma Acigol Centre whilst largely predating emplacement of the Incesu ignimbrite. Whilst rotational deformation within Anatolia is young, it proves to be distributed with a temporal variation from block to block. It is embraced by a complex post-Miocene tectonic regime of strike slip and extension during tectonic escape and suction towards the Hellenic Arc to the west.