Neogene upper‐crustal cooling of the Olympus range (northern Aegean): major role of Hellenic back‐arc extension over propagation of the North Anatolia Fault Zone |
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| Authors: | Isabelle Coutand Michael Walsh Bertha Louis Frank Chanier Jacky Ferrière Jean‐Yves Reynaud |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, , Halifax, NS, Canada;2. Laboratoire Géosystèmes, Université de Lille 1, , Villeneuve d'Ascq, France |
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| Abstract: | The North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) is one of the most hazardous active faults on Earth, yet its Pliocene space‐time propagation across the north Aegean domain remains poorly constrained. We use low‐temperature multi‐thermochronology and inverse thermal modelling to quantify the cooling history of the upper crust across the Olympus range. This range is located in the footwall of a system of normal faults traditionally interpreted as resulting from superposed Middle–Late Miocene N–S stretching, related to the back‐arc extension of the Hellenic subduction zone, and a Pliocene‐Quaternary transtensional field, attributed to the south‐westward propagation of the NAFZ. We find that accelerated exhumational cooling occurred between 12 and 6 Ma at rates of 15–35 °C Ma?1 and decreased to <3 °C Ma?1 by 8–6 Ma. The absence of significant Plio‐Pleistocene cooling across Olympus suggests that crustal exhumation there is driven by late Miocene back‐arc extension, while the impact of the NAFZ remains limited. |
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