GEOLOGY, cilt.29, sa.7, ss.611-614, 2001 (SCI-Expanded)
Two symmetrically arranged detachment systems delimit the central Menderes metamorphic core complex and define a bivergent continental breakaway zone in the Anatolide belt of western Turkey. Structural analysis and apatite fission-track thermochronology show that a large east-trending syncline within the Alpine nappe stack in the central part of the orogen is related to late Miocene-early Pliocene to recent core-complex formation. The syncline formed as a result of two opposite-facing rolling hinges in the footwalls of each of the two detachments. Back-rotation of the syncline limbs suggests that the detachments rotated from an initial dip of 50 degrees -60 degrees to a currently shallow orientation of 0 degrees -20 degrees.