Age and kinematics of the Burdur Basin: Inferences for the existence of the Fethiye Burdur Fault Zone in SW Anatolia (Turkey)

The Burdur Basin is a late Miocene to Pliocene fluvio-lacustrine basin in SW Anatolia. It is developed within the postulated Fethiye-Burdur Fault Zone, which was argued to be a sinistral strike-slip fault zone developed in response to propagation of the Pliny-Strabo STEP fault into SW Anatolia (Turkey). In order to assess the presence and tectonic characteristics of the fault zone, we conducted a paleomagnetic study in the Burdur basin that involved rock magnetic experiments, Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) measurements and developing a magnetostratigraphy for dating purposes. The obtained age model constrains most part of the tectonic evolution of the basin. The well exposed (~270 m thick) Burdur section revealed 3 normal and 2 reverse polarity magnetozones. We propose that the Burdur Formation spans most of the Gauss Chron (~3.4–2.5 Ma) which implies a sedimentation rate of >18 cm/kyr. The AMS results in the section indicate NW-SE directed extension. In addition, we have also conducted kinematic analyses from 1790 fault slip data collected at 44 sites distributed within the supposed Fethiye Burdur Fault Zone in the region. The results indicate that the region has been developed under a NW-SE directed extensional deformation regime and was dominated by NE-SW striking normal faults from late Miocene to recent. Few NW-SE striking normal faults with strike-slip components are categorized as transfer faults, which accommodated differential stretching between the Burdur and Çameli basins. Stretching amounts increase southwards demonstrating a dextral transtensional character of the transfer faults. We have not observed any significant strike-slip motion along the NE-SW striking faults, which challenges the presence and sinistral transcurrent nature of the supposed Fethiye Burdur Fault Zone.