Geology of Turkey

Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of a wide variety of tectonic processes that have shaped Anatolia over millions of years and continue today as evidenced by frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions.

Except for a relatively small portion of its territory along the Syrian border that is a continuation of the Arabian Platform, Turkey geologically is part of the great Alpide belt that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalaya Mountains.

Turkey can be thought of as a collage of different pieces (possibly terranes) of ancient continental and oceanic lithosphere stuck together by younger igneous, volcanic, and sedimentary rocks.

The Eurasian margin, now preserved in the Pontides (the Pontic Mountains along the Black Sea coast), is thought to have been geologically similar to the Western Pacific region today (e.g. Rice et al., 2006).

[citation needed] During the Cenozoic folding, faulting, and uplifting, accompanied by volcanic activity and intrusion of igneous rocks was related to major continental collision between the larger Arabian and Eurasian plates (e.g. Robertson & Dixon, 1984).

A central massif composed of uplifted blocks and downfolded troughs, covered by recent deposits and giving the appearance of a plateau with rough terrain, is wedged between two folded mountain ranges that converge in the east.

The terrain's ruggedness is accentuated in the eastern part of the country, where the two mountain ranges converge into a lofty region with a median elevation of more than 1,500 meters, which reaches its highest point along the borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

The earliest geological history of Turkey is poorly understood, partly because these oldest rocks in the region are involved into younger deformation phases that hindered their evolution.

Except for a relatively small portion of its territory along the Syrian border that is a continuation of the Arabian plate, Turkey geologically is part of the great Alpide belt that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalaya Mountains.

A study analyzed 700 earthquakes occurred in Turkey from 1999 to 2010 with magnitude degree major than 4.0 and the related 50.000 Pn first arrivals recorded by 832 seismic stations at a distance range of 180–1500 km from the epicenter.

[7] The Eurasian margin, now preserved in the Pontides (the Pontic Mountains along the Black Sea coast), is thought to have been geologically similar to the Western Pacific region today.

[8] Volcanic arcs and back-arc basins formed and were emplaced onto Eurasia as ophiolites as they collided with microcontinents (literally relatively small plates of continental lithosphere).

[citation needed] During the Cenozoic (Tertiary about 66 to 1.6 million years) folding, faulting and uplifting, accompanied by volcanic activity and intrusion of igneous rocks was related to major continental collision between the larger Arabian and Eurasian plates.