Proterozoic ophiolites and mafic–ultramafic complexes marginal to the İstanbul Block: An exotic terrane of Avalonian affinity in NW Turkey

Among the Proterozoic inliers in the Istanbul Block, the lowest structural levels are exposed in the Sunnice Massif, north of Bolu. Amphibolite-facies mafic and subordinate ultramafic rocks of the Cele meta-ophiolite underlie the greenschist-facies Ediacaran calc-alkaline Yellice metavolcanics, which are intruded by the similar to 565-576 Ma Dirgine granitoids. Homblende gneisses of the Cele meta-ophiolite comprise island arc metatholeiites and transitional to calc-alkaline metabasalts which, together with minor serpentinite are disposed in a broadly antiformal structure. The meta-ophiolitic rocks are therefore the oldest ophiolites in NW Turkey, and are themselves thrust on to a putative pre-existing continental margin, now represented by the metasedimentary migmatites of the Demirci gneisses, which may thus be the oldest rocks of the complex. The Istanbul Block is an exotic terrane. Unlike other western Turkish terranes, it lacks Variscan metamorphism: its different provenance, indicated by its geological record, faunal affinities, and inherited mid-Proterozoic isotopic dates, suggests a former link with Avalonian basement in England, NW Europe and the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Hence, together with other terranes now situated further east than the Avalonian terranes of NW Europe, the Istanbul Block may represent the easternmost extremities of Avalonia, which were detached during its end-Ordovician collision with the Bruno-Silesian Promontory on the SW margin of Baltica. Subsequent migration of the Istanbul Block to its present location occurred by eastward displacement by sinistral transpression along the southern margin of Baltica to a point east of the Dobrogea and south of the Scythian Platform, followed by collision with the Sakarya Block in the Mesozoic and Late Cretaceous southward displacement with the opening of the Black Sea basin. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.