Abstract
The tectonic development of the Southeast Anatolian Orogenic Belt (SAOB)
is closely related to the demise of the NeoTethys Ocean, which was
located between the Arabian and Eurasian plates from the late Cretaceous
to Late Miocene. The ocean contained several continental slivers and
intra-oceanic magmatic arcs. The continental slivers represent narrow
tectonic belts rifted off and drifted away from the Arabian Plate while
the NeoTethyan Ocean and the back-arc basins were opened. Later they
collided with one another during the branches of the oceans were
eliminated. In these periods, the continental slivers were involved in
the subduction zone and turned into metamorphic massifs. During the Late
Cretaceous, the first collision occurred when an accretionary complex
was thrust over the Arabian Plate’s leading edge. Despite the collision,
the ocean survived in the North and Its northward subduction generated a
new intra oceanic arc, which collided later with the northerly located
continental slivers. In this period, the metamorphic massifs and the
intra-oceanic arc front migrated to the South. The new magmatic arc
collided with the southerly transported nappe package during the Late
Eocene. The amalgamated nappe pile eventually obducted onto the Arabian
Plate during the Late Miocene. The collision produced escape structures
during the Neotectonic period.