Keele Research Repository

Detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology of 15 Late Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic siliciclastic sandstones from the Karaburun Peninsula in western Turkey determines maximum sedimentation ages, identifies possible source areas, and anchors the study area within the Palaeotethyan realm. Siliciclastic sandstones yielded ages from Triassic to Archean with major input from Palaeozoic to Neoproterozoic sources and very few Mesoproterozoic zircons. The youngest age groups set the new limit of the maximum depositional ages to Late Carboniferous–Early Permian for the Küçükbahçe and Dikendağı formations. Detrital zircons from Triassic sandstones are mainly Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic in age. Zircons from the Scythian–Anisian Gerence Formation are predominantly Devonian and Carboniferous in age, while also Permian and Triassic zircon grains occur in the Carnian–Rhaetian Güvercinlik Formation. According to the zircon age populations and the data available from possible source regions, the Karaburun siliciclastic sediments, with the exception of two samples from the Dikendağı Formation, record sediment supply from units located at the southern margin of Eurasia during Late Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic times. This interpretation is in agreement with palaeotectonic reconstructions for the closely related Greek islands of Chios and Inousses. The presence of Devonian accompanied by Carboniferous zircons in some of the Karaburun samples reveals similarities with Karakaya Complex sandstones of the Sakarya Zone in NW Turkey.