Book Description

In this field-trip guide we explore the tectonics of Samos and the Menderes Massif, two fascinating areas within the eastern Mediterranean section of the Tethyan orogen. We include detailed outcrop descriptions, maps, and diagrams to explore along-strike variations in the Hellenide-Anatolide orogen, including the architecture of the Early Tertiary Alpine nappe stack and its strong Miocene extensional overprint. The suggested itinerary is based on the 2010 Geological Society of America Field Forum "Significance of Along-Strike Variations for the 3-D Architecture of Orogens: The Hellenides and Anatolides in the Eastern Mediterranean." We start the outcrop descriptions with Day 1 in Samos, where, untypically for the N-S-stretched Aegean region, Miocene extension is E-W. We describe a section in western Samos, where the Cycladic Blueschist Unit is in contact with the underlying External Hellenides along a large-scale thrust, reactivated as a Miocene top-east extensional shear zone. The focus of Day 2 is on high-pressure assemblages in northern Samos. The following three days explore the Anatolide Belt in western Turkey where the Menderes nappes-also known as the Menderes Massif-form the tectonic footwall below the Cycladic Blueschist Unit. The outcrops in western Anatolia include the Cycladic Blueschist Unit in the area around Selcuk (Day 3) and sections across the Bozdaĝ and Aydin Mountains including the Kuzey and Güney detachment faults and the Cycladic Menderes Thrust (Days 4 and 5). Outcrops on Day 6 showcase structures along the southern margin of the Menderes Massif in the Milas-Selimiye area.