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A multidisciplinary approach combining multiscale geological-structural analyses (from field to microscale) and clay mineral transformations (clay mineralogy, illite and chlorite "crystallinity" and b cell dimension (b0) of K-white mica) was adopted to unravel the tectono-metamorphic evolution of low- and very low-grade tectono-metamorphic units from the Intra-Pontide suture zone in northern Turkey. The mineralogical study allowed to better evaluate the structural stacking outlined during the geological mapping, leading to distinguish three tectono-metamorphic units, two in epizone (Daday and Emirkoy units) and one in anchizone (Çifter Unit) metamorphic conditions. The mesostructural and microstructural analyses suggest a polyphase tectonic-metamorphic evolution. The different macroscopic features observed between the two units characterized by the same epizone metamorphism, can be justified by the evidence that these metamorphic conditions were acquired during the last stages of exhumation in the Daday Unit, while they constrained the metamorphic-peak conditions in the Emirkoy Unit. Contemporary analyses and comparison between structural and mineralogical data have thus proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the low-grade and very low-grade metamorphic environments, allowing at the same time to solve the apparent contradictions deriving from the mineralogical study and to significantly improve the detail of the geological mapping in the field.

The Intra-Pontide suture zone is the northernmost ophiolite suture zone exposed in the Anatolian peninsula. It consists of several variably deformed and metamorphosed tectonic units derived from the Neo-Tethyan Intra-Pontide oceanic (IPO) basin, and its continental margins that are currently represented by the Istanbul-Zonguldak and the Sakarya terranes. Recent data suggests that the IPO was a wide supra-subduction oceanic basin whose closure began in the uppermost Early Jurassic by a north dipping intra-oceanic subduction that divided the IPO into two different oceanic areas, namely IPO1 and IPO2. The Saka Unit is a small tectonic unit exposed in the eastern portion of the Intra-Pontide suture zone in the Central Pontides, which is interpreted as a tectonic melange produced during the intra-oceanic subduction that led to the closure of IPO1. The unit was affected by polyphase deformation and epidote–amphibolite facies metamorphism peak conditions experienced during the uppermost Middle Jurassic. Metamorphic studies and thermodynamic investigations constrain the peak pressure conditions to T ≈ 650–700 °C and P ≈ 0.9–1.3 GPa. These conditions reveal a ‘hot’ and anomalous geothermal gradient (15–22 °C/km) with respect to those of the other ophiolite-bearing units of the Intra-Pontide suture zone involved in the subduction. This anomalous gradient was herein attributed to the thermal pulse produced by the subduction of the IPO1 mid-oceanic ridge. The final re-equilibration occurred under greenschist facies conditions during the Early Cretaceous exhumation, when the oceanic lithosphere of the IPO was completely consumed and the continental collision between the Istanbul-Zonguldak and Sakarya terranes occurred.

In northern Turkey, the Intra-Pontide suture zone is represented by an east–west trending belt of deformed and/or metamorphic units located at the boundary between the Istanbul–Zonguldak terrane to the north and the Sakarya terrane to the south. These units can be regarded as issued from the Intra-Pontide domain, whose geodynamic history is still a matter of debate. Along the Akpinar–Arac–Bayramoren geotraverse, located in central Turkey, an ophiolite-bearing melange known as the Arkot Dag Melange, is well-exposed along the Intra-Pontide suture zone. The Arkot Dag Melange plays a key role in the interpretation of the geodynamic history of the Intra-Pontide domain and can be described as a Late Santonian chaotic sedimentary deposit consisting of an up to 1000-m-thick succession of slide-blocks of different sizes and lithologies enclosed in a sedimentary matrix consisting of shales, coarse-grained arenites, pebbly mudstones and pebbly sandstones. The slide-blocks, from a few meters to hectometers in size, are represented by metamorphic rocks (mainly micaschists and gneisses), by ophiolites (peridotites, gabbros, IAT and BABB basalts and cherts) and by sedimentary rocks (cherts, neritic and pelagic limestone, marly limestone and ophiolite-bearing turbidites). The youngest age among the slide-blocks has been provided by the ophiolite-bearing turbidites where a late Coniacian nannofossil assemblage has been found. The cherts have provided a wide range of ages from the Middle Triassic to Late Cretaceous, whereas the fossils found in the limestone indicate Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous ages. The matrix of the Arkot Dag Melange, even if unaffected by metamorphism, shows deformations represented by multiple meters-thick cataclastic shear zones at the boundaries of the melange slices or inside of them. According to its features, the source area of the Arkot Dag Melange was most likely a continental and oceanic thrust sheet emplaced in the Late Cretaceous onto a continental margin. The data collected from the different slide-blocks suggest that the Intra-Pontide domain was characterised by an oceanic basin opened at the latest in the Early Jurassic. The opening of the Intra-Pontide oceanic basin was followed by the development of a subduction zone with a subsequent opening of suprasubduction oceanic basin in the Middle Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. The convergence in this suprasubduction oceanic basin started at the Early/Late Cretaceous boundary by an obduction process, whereas its final closure can be regarded as Late Paleocene in age.

This paper presents the results of multidisciplinary studies performed on the Intra-Pontide suture zone (Central Pontides, Northern Turkey) by an Italian-Turkish team. The investigations started in 2010 thanks to the funds provided by Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (prin) project, provided by Italian Ministry of Education, University and Scientific Research (Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca scientifica, miur), and by Darius Programme, sponsored by a network of oil companies. All the data collected during these researches indicated that the Intra-Pontide suture zone preserves remains of an oceanic basin, known as Intra- Pontide oceanic basin, probably opened in the Middle Triassic. Since Late Jurassic, the basin has experienced a subduction-related tectonics until its final closure in the Middle Paleocene. On the whole, the main results of these researches are the assessment that the Intra-Pontide suture zone really derived from the closure of the Intra-Pontide oceanic basin. This basin represents a paleogeographic element that has played an important role in the geodynamics history of the Eastern Mediterranean area.

In the Central Pontides (Northern Turkey), south of Tosya, a tectonic unit consisting of not-metamorphic volcanic rocks and overlying sedimentary succession is exposed inside a fault-bounded elongated block. It is restrained within a wide shear zone, where the Intra-Pontide suture zone, the Sakarya terrane and the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone are juxtaposed as result of strike-slip activity of the North Anatolian shear zone. The volcanic rocks are mainly basalts and basaltic andesites (with their pyroclastic equivalents) associated with a volcaniclastic formation made up of breccias and sandstones that are stratigraphically overlain by a Marly-calcareous turbidite formation. The calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy points to a late Santonian-middle Campanian age (CC17-CC21 Zones) for the sedimentary succession. The geochemistry of the volcanic rocks reveals an active continental margin setting as evidenced by the enrichment in Th and LREE over HFSE, and the Nb-enriched nature of these lavas relative to N-MORB. As highlighted by the performed arenite petrography, the occurrence of continent-derived clastics in the sedimentary succession supports the hypothesis of a continental arc-derived volcanic succession. Alternative geodynamic reconstructions are proposed, where this tectonic unit could represent a slice derived from the northern continental margin of the Intra- Pontide or Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan oceanic basins.

The palaeogeography of Neotethys during its closure is still a matter of debate. This study provides new insights into the Neotethys closure by the discovery in the Intra-Pontide Suture Zone (Turkey) of an accretionary complex that recorded a Late Jurassic ( c . 163 Ma) amphibolite-facies metamorphism. Results are discussed in the framework of the accretionary events that occurred at the southern margin of Laurasia. The resulting picture supports a new model in which the Vardar suture zone, in the Balkans, and the Intra-Pontide Suture Zone, in Anatolia, represent remnants of the same elongate oceanic basin. Supplementary material: Analytical procedures, representative mineral compositions, geothermobarometric estimates, step-heating and in situ 40 Ar− 39 Ar data and backscattered-electron photomicrographs showing the distribution of laser spot ages on rock chips are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18759.

The Ayli Dag ophiolites occur as an independent tectonic unit within the Intra-Pontide suture zone, central-northern Turkey. They crop out, together with the other units of the Intra-Pontide suture zone, at the top of the Late Cretaceous-Middle Paleocene foredeep sediments of the Sakarya Terrane. The Ayli Dag ophiolites sequence include in its lower part a mantle sequence consisting of not less than 2-3 km-thick peridotites, topped by 500-600 m-thick layered gabbros with alternating, dm- to m-thick layers of spinel-bearing dunites, melatroctolites, troctolites, ol-gabbros and leucogabbros. The gabbro sequence is overlain by a sheeted dyke complex, that shows a transition to 100-200 m-thick massive basaltic lava flows followed by 600-800 m-thick massive and pillow lavas and breccias alternating with ophiolite-bearing arenites and cherts. Geochemical evaluation of the mafic lavas and dykes reveals three distinct chemical groups that reflect melt generation within an intra-oceanic subduction system. Among these, the first group shows island-arc tholeiite (IAT)-like features, showing very-depleted characteristics (very high Zr/Nb, low Zr/Y and Nb/Y) ratios coupled with light rare-earth (LREE)-depleted chondrite-normalized patterns. The second group is more akin to back-arc basin basalts (BABB); it displays normal mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB)-like high-field strength element (HFSE) distribution except for depletion in Nb, and flat REE patterns. The third group is somewhat similar to the second one, displaying BABB-like characteristics, but it is more enriched in terms of absolute trace element abundances. The radiolarian cherts sampled from the top of the pillow lavas yielded less-diverse but characteristic radiolarian assemblages indicating the middle Bathonian to early Callovian ages. The Ayli Dag Ophiolite is the first finding of back-arc type oceanic lithosphere in the Intra-Pontide suture zone. Together with previous data obtained from basalts in the mélange from the Intra-Pontide suture zone, this finding represents a proof that an intra-oceanic subduction within the Intra-Pontide oceanic basin occurred in the Middle Jurassic time.