Ophiolitic and metamorphic assemblages of southeast Anatolia and their significance in the geological evolution of the orogenic belt

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Abstract
The southeast Anatolian orogen may be divided into three roughly east‐west trending structural zones formed as a result of continental collision between the Taurus platform and the Arabian continent. Along the orogenic belt, metamorphic and ophiolitic rocks occur widely. The ophiolites represent remnants of the ocean or oceans which were totally consumed between these converging continental blocks during Late Cretaceous to Miocene period. Metamorphic rocks formed from the oceanic as well as the continental rocks which were incorporated into a nappe stack during the consumption of the oceanic lithosphere and the progressive southward advance of the nappes toward the Arabian continent. The metamorphic units, together with the ophiolite associations, provide stratigraphic and petrologic evidence indicating time, place, and environment of formation of these units; the metamorphic units also provide evidence of nappe transportation stages which are complementary to the data derived from the sedimentary successions in the evaluation of the orogenic evolution of southeast Anatolian orogen.