Late Cenozoic extension in northeastern Greece: Strymon Valley detachment system and Rhodope metamorphic core complex

Research Article| January 01, 1993 Late Cenozoic extension in northeastern Greece: Strymon Valley detachment system and Rhodope metamorphic core complex David A. Dinter; David A. Dinter 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Leigh Royden Leigh Royden 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information David A. Dinter 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Leigh Royden 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Publisher: Geological Society of America First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 Geological Society of America Geology (1993) 21 (1): 45–48. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1993)021<0045:LCEING>2.3.CO;2 Article history First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation David A. Dinter, Leigh Royden; Late Cenozoic extension in northeastern Greece: Strymon Valley detachment system and Rhodope metamorphic core complex. Geology 1993;; 21 (1): 45–48. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1993)021<0045:LCEING>2.3.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The Strymon Valley detachment system accommodated at least 25 km of extension at the northern margin of the Aegean extensional province from middle Miocene through early Pliocene time. The primary detachment surface is exposed as a gently southwest-dipping low-angle normal fault—similar to those widely known in core complex settings of the U.S. Basin and Range province—for more than 150 km along strike, from the Aegean Sea coast in northeastern Greece northward into the Struma Valley of southern Bulgaria. Hanging-wall rocks in the Strymon Valley detachment system moved in a S53°W direction relative to the footwall, resulting ultimately in the tectonic unroofing of the Rhodope metamorphic core complex. Several segments of the Strymon Valley detachment have previously been interpreted as thrust faults formed during a Miocene compressional event. Our results negate the principal evidence for this event and imply instead that extensional deformation has characterized the northern Aegean region since at least middle Miocene time.Displacement ceased on the Strymon Valley detachment with the late Pliocene development of the Strymon and Drama basins. We propose that those basins, together with the other principal basins of the northern Aegean region, are subsiding above an active northeast-dipping, extensional detachment zone that forms a unified kinematic system with the western offshore continuation of the dextral North Anatolian strike-slip fault, the North Aegean trough. If this hypothesis is correct, then the North Aegean trough, the western strands of the North Anatolian fault, and the principal modern depocenters of the northern Aegean region may all have originated no earlier than late Pliocene time. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.