Ibrahim Cemen

University of Alabama | UA · Department of Geological Sciences

The Büyük Menderes Graben (BMG) is an E-W oriented active extensional geothermal basin within the Menderes Massif, a metamorphic core complex, in Western Anatolia, Turkey. 1500 (megawattsenergy) MWe of installed geothermal capacity for power production exist as of December 2019 in Western Anatolia, mostly generated in the BMG. While the BMG is a va...

The Hellenic arc, where the African (Nubian) slab subducts beneath the Aegean and Anatolian microplates, is a type-locality for understanding subduction dynamics. The subducting African slab is the driver for extension in the Aegean and Anatolian microplates and plays a significant role in accommodating the Anatolian microplate's westward extrusion...

Abstract. The tectonic development of the Southeast Anatolian Orogenic Belt (SAOB) is closely related to the demise of the NeoTethys Ocean, which was located between the Arabian and Eurasian plates from the late Cretaceous to Late Miocene. The ocean contained several continental slivers and intra-oceanic magmatic arcs. The continental slivers repre...

Compressional and contractional tectonics are of interest to various researchers, from rock mechanics and engineering to those studying the hazards, dynamics, and evolution of plate boundaries. We summarize here the terminology regarding deformation associated with compressional and contractional tectonics. We describe the now largely discarded geo...

Since the wide acceptance of Plate Tectonics Theory in the 1970s, our understanding of Extensional Tectonics from Continental Breakup to Formation of Oceanic Basins has improved substantially based on geological, geophysical, geochemical studies, and analog and computer modeling. Although it is widely accepted that oceanic basins initiate during th...

This is one of the three papers that deal with development of the eastern Anatolian orogeny, which treats the Pontide range the northwest orogenic belt lying along the Lesser Caucasus. Therefore it provides also important complimentary information to that range.

The tectonic development of the Southeast Anatolian Orogenic Belt (SAOB) is closely related to the demise of the NeoTethys Ocean, which was located between the Arabian and Eurasian plates from the late Cretaceous to Late Miocene. The ocean contained several continental slivers and intra-oceanic magmatic arcs. The continental slivers represent narro...

The East Anatolian High Plateau, part of the Alpine-Himalayan orogen, is a 200 km wide, approximately E-W trending belt surrounded by two peripheral mountains of the Anatolian Peninsula. The plateau is covered by a thick, in-terbedded Neogene volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Outcrops of the underlying rocks are rare. Therefore, contrasting views wer...

The Menderes Massif in western Turkey has global importance due to its role as the largest zone of active continental extension on Earth. The region is located at the boundary between the Aegean and Anatolian microplates and is considered a type-location for marking a significant transition between contractional and extensional tectonics across the...

Collisional tectonics preceded large-scale extension and metamorphic core complex formation In the Basins and Ranges of North America and the Aegean region of Eastern Europe. It occurred during the Cretaceous Sevier Orogeny in the Basin and Ranges and still continues to the NE of the region. In the Aegean region, collisional tectonics occurred duri...

United States Deciphering the assembly of the Aegean and Anatolian microplates and their past and present-day deformation drivers impacts our understanding of continental tectonics, subduction zone processes, lithospheric deformation, ore generation process, and hazards. Several units and structures can be correlated from Western Anatolia to the Ae...

The Hellenic arc, where the African (Nubian) slab subducts beneath the Aegean and Anatolian microplates, has emerged as a type-locality for understanding subduction dynamics, including slab tear, slab fragments, drips, and transfer zones. Based on field evidence and geophysical, tectonics, and geochemical studies, it has been recognized that the su...

Western Anatolia is located at the boundary between the Aegean and Anatolian microplates. It is considered a type-location for marking a significant transition between compressional and extensional tectonics across the Alpine-Himalayan chain. The onset of lateral extrusion in Western Anatolia and the Aegean during the Eocene is only one of its tran...

The Menderes Massif (Turkey) is a metamorphic core complex that records Alpine crustal shortening and extension. Here, nine garnet-bearing schist samples in the Central Menderes Massif (CMM) from below the Alaşehir detachment (AD) were studied to reconstruct their growth history. P-T estimates made using a chemical zoning approach, and petrological...

The Menderes Massif (Turkey) is a metamorphic core complex that records Alpine crustal shortening and extension. Here nine garnet-bearing schists samples in the Central Menderes Massif (CMM) from below the Alaşehir detachment (AD) have been studied to reconstruct their growth history. P-T estimates made using a chemical zoning approach, and petrolo...

An integrated field study focusing on the Upper Jurassic Smackover microbial buildup and associated carbonate facies at Fishpond Field in Escambia County, Alabama, northeastern Gulf Coastal Plain of North America, provides an opportunity to analyze the development and preservation of a microbial buildup reservoir, including the effects of structura...

The Western Black Sea basin formed during therifting of the Moesian Platform in Early Cretaceous. The closure of the Neotethys Ocean in the Middle Eocene resulted in the formation of the Pontide fold and thrust belt in northern Turkey. During this study, eight seismic reflection profiles were interpreted to determine the subsurface structural geome...

Central Anatolia, located in the eastern Mediterranean Region, is tectonically active due to the westward escape of the Anatolian plate between the North and East Anatolia Fault zones and subduction of the Cyprus slab along the Cyprus arc. In recent years, Western andEastern Anatolia have been subjected to gravity and seismic studies to identify th...

T42B-02 presented at 2019 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA 9-13 Dec. Garnet-bearing rocks have long been recognized as geochemical recorders of pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions that lend key insight into large-scale tectonic processes. The Menderes Massif of western Turkey, Earth's type-locality of a metamorphic core complex, exemplifies a...

Our understanding of extensional bains have improved substantially within the last three decades based on geological, geophysical, geochemical studies, and analog and computer modeling in the regions crustal extension have taken place. These regions include a) passive margins such as both sides of the Atlantic Ocean; b) narrow rifting in East Afric...

Evidence of syntectonic magmatism associated with onset extension and unroofing of the Menderes Massif metamorphic core complex, western Turkey, is well documented. The Salihli and Turgutlu plutons, located along the Alasehir detachment in the Central Menderes Massif (CMM) and the Koyunoba and Eğrigöz Plutons located in the Northern Menderes Massif...

An integrated well log and core study of the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation and associated Jurassic lithofacies in the Conecuh Embayment, onshore northeastern Gulf of Mexico, has shown that the depositional environments for these updip lithofacies differ from the setting for other updip Upper Jurassic lithofacies in the onshore northeastern Gul...

The Menderes Massif, Turkey, is a type locality for deciphering the plate tectonic response from collision‐ to extension‐driven exhumation. Conventional thermobarometry and garnet pressure‐temperature (P‐T) paths from isochemical phase diagrams were calculated across a major fault (Selimiye Shear Zone, SSZ) bounding the southern edge of the Mendere...

The global dispersal of forests and soils has been proposed as a cause for the Late Devonian mass extinctions of marine organisms, but detailed spatiotemporal records of forests and soils at that time remain lacking. We present data from microscopic and geochemical analyses of the Upper Devonian Chattanooga Shale (Famennian Stage). Plant residues (...

The Badwater turtleback, Copper Canyon turtleback, and Mormon Point turtleback are three anomalously smooth, ~2-km-high basement structures in the Black Mountains of Death Valley, California. Their structural evolution is linked to the Cenozoic tectonic history of the region. To explore their evolution, we apply (U-Th)/He, Ar/Ar, and U-Pb analyses,...

The Eastern Anatolia region is a classic example of a young continental collision zone where continental crust is relatively thin for a collisional belt The lithosphere in Eastern Anatolia is underlain by a low-velocity zone associated with asthenospheric flow in the uppermost mantle. However, the driving mechanism of asthenospheric flow in the upp...

Geologic history of the Menderes Massif (MM), western Turkey is difficult to discern, partly due to a series of collisional and extensional events, each imparting a deformation fabric and, in some cases, producing recrystallization of prograde metamorphic minerals. To avoid recrystallization effects, we focused on garnet crystals, which commonly re...

Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, is a part of the Alpine-Himalayan collisional belt where continental crust is relatively thin for a collisional belt. The region contains part of the Zagros suture zone, which formed during collision of the Arabian and Anatolian plates in the Miocene. It is underlain by a low-velocity zone associated with asthenospheric fl...

The editors of a new book describe the evolution of major earthquake producing fault zones in the eastern Mediterranean region and explore how earthquake forecasting could improve.

This chapter examines the effects of the asthenospheric window on major crustal structures such as the Menderes metamorphic core complex (MMCC) including the Alasehir and Buyuk Menderes grabens in western Turkey and the upper mantle using gravity data modeling. The model is constrained by results from receiver function and seismic tomography. Seism...

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book covers a wide range of contributions to the neotectonics and earthquake potential of the eastern Mediterranean region. It also covers an extensive and overlapping tectonic mosaic of new data that contribute significantly to understand...

Effect of Slab‐Tear on Crustal Structure in Southwestern Anatolia: Insight From Gravity Data Modeling Rezene Mahatsente, Süleyman Alemdar, and Iḃrahim Çemen Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA ABSTRACT The effect of an upwelling hot asthenospheric flow on the crust and upper mantle structure of s...

2) Consulting structural geologist, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A In western Turkey, the Cenozoic extensional tectonics was initiated in late Oligocene and produced the Menderes Metamorphic Core Complex (MMCC) and associated extensional structures. The Alaşehir and Büyük Menderes Grabens are two major E-W trending grabens that border the central part of...

Garnet-based thermobarometry is often used to develop models for the evolution of the central Menderes Massif, a large-scale metamorphic core complex in western Turkey. Menderes Massif P-T conditions constrain processes that worked to assemble western Turkey and link the massif to core complexes in the Aegean region. Here we report P-T conditions f...

The Arkoma Basin is an arcuate foreland basin that formed during the Pennsylvanian Ouachita orogeny. The basin contains an Atokan flysch sequence about 18,000 feet thick that was deposited in a foreland setting. It also contains about 5,000 feet of molasse deposits Desmoinesian in age. The lower Atokan Spiro sandstone is a major natural gas produce...

Using chemostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy to study stratigraphic variability in the Chattanooga Shale in Alabama and associate it with depostional process and other events.

LOCATION: Conference Hall Ι 12:00 Ibrahim Cemen KEYNOTE TALK: Neotectonics of the Western Anatolia Extended Terrane (WAET): Implications for Earthquake Potential of Western Turkey. SPEAKER: Ibrahim Cemen ABSTRACT. In western Anatolia, Turkey, the Neotectonics period was initiated in Eocene, following the formation of Izmir-Ankara suture zone. Monaz...

The Ouachita fold-thrust belt in Oklahoma and Arkansas formed during the Pennsylvanian Ouachita Orogeny due to the collision of a southern continent and southern margin of North America. The tectonic models (e.g., Houseknecht, 1983) of the Ouachita fold-thrust belt involve the presence of an accretionary prism and volcanic arc associated with a sou...

The frontal belt of the southeastern Anatolia fold-thrust belt in Turkey contains several small to mid-size oilfields, producing from carbonate reservoirs of the Cretaceous Mardin group. Many of these fields are found along narrow, asymmetrical anticlinal structures, associated with the formation of the fold-thrust belt. The emberlitas oil field in...

The Black Sea Basin contains two sub-basins with different tectonic origin; the Western and Eastern Black Sea basins. The Western Black Sea Basin formed as a result of rifting of the Moesian Platform in Early Cretaceous. The Eastern Black Sea Basin formed during the counterclockwise rotation of Eastern Black Sea margin block around a rotation pole...

The Western Anatolia Extended Terrane, Turkey, contains two main east-west trending extensional basins that were formed during the Cenozoic extension in the region. They are named as Alasehir (Gediz) and Buyuk Menderes Grabens (BMG). The two grabens usually considered as symmetrical structures formed in Early Miocene and developed by similar struct...

The neotectonics of the Anatolian and Aegean regions is the result of the African plate subduction along the Hellenic and Cyprus trenches and the Anatolian plate collision with the Eurosian plate. The African slab, as imaged by seismic tomography, penetrates the lower mantle and exhibits two major lateral tears below the Anatolian plate. The tears...

Devonian-Mississippian shale units produce natural gas at numerous locations in the southern Midcontinent and the southern Appalachians. Givetian-Tournasian units include the Woodford Shale of the Anadarko and Arkoma basins and the Chattanooga Shale of the Appalachian and Black Warrior basins. Visean-Serpukhovian units include the Barnett Shale in...

The Alasehir and Büyük Menderes Grabens are two main east-west trending extensional basins located in the central part of Western Anatolia extended terrane, Turkey. These basins are formed during the Cenozoic extension in the region. Although structural development of the Alasehir Graben was studied in detail in recent years, the Büyük Menderes Gra...

The Alasehir and Büyük Menderes Grabens are two main east-west trending extensional basins located in the central part of Western Anatolia extended terrane, Turkey. These basins are formed during the Cenozoic extension in the region. Although structural development of the Alasehir Graben was studied in detail in recent years, the Büyük Menderes Gra...

2015, 22nd - 25th June 31st IAS Meeting of Sedimentology Conference Programme Cihanbeyli-Yeniceoba Basin, Central Anatolia, Turkey: Its Sedimentary Environments, Basinal Architecture, and Structural Relationship with Tuzgölü and Haymana Basins Abstract Central Anatolia, Turkey contains many small to large Neogene sedimentary basins. One of these t...

Devonian age black shale deposition across foreland basins along the Appalachians has recently become very important economically because of their gas-shale potential. Understanding the natural fracture patterns is important for unconventional gas-shale reservoirs because natural fractures play a vital role in the movement of fluids such as oil and...

Devonian age black shale deposition across foreland basins along the Appalachians has recently become very important economically because of their gas-shale potential. Understanding the natural fracture patterns is important for unconventional gas-shale reservoirs because natural fractures play a vital role in the movement of fluids such as oil and...

Interest in the organic rich Devonian Chattanooga Shale of the Appalachian fold-thrust belt of Alabama, for natural resource potential, has grown within the last decade. Evaluation of natural fracture patterns is important for understanding unconventional gas-shale reservoirs. Several exposures of the Chattanooga Shale can be found along the backli...

Devonian to Mississippian shales of the Ouachita and Appalachian orogenic belts produce natural gas at isolated locations across the southern midcontinent region and southern Appalachians. The shales are known by different names in different geographic regions; Barnett in northern Texas, Woodford in southern Oklahoma, Fayetteville in Arkansas, and...

Pressure-temperature (P-T) paths derived from garnet chemical zoning and supported by thermal modeling record alternating burial and exhumation during Main Menderes Metamorphism in western Turkey. We studied six rocks along the Selimiye (Kayabükü) shear zone, three from the footwall (Çine nappe) and three from the hanging wall (Selimiye nappe). The...

The western part of the Aegean region includes several Neogene basins containing volcano-sedimentary successions. The Neogene basins, located along the northern Menderes Extensional Metamorphic Complex (MEMC) were developed during the Miocene as supra-detachment basins. They contain two distinct volcano-sedimentary successions, separated by a regio...

The western part of the Aegean region includes several Neogene basins containing volcano-sedimentary successions. The Neogene basins, located along the northern Menderes Extensional Metamorphic Complex (MEMC) were developed during the Miocene as supra-detachment basins. They contain two distinct volcano-sedimentary successions, separated by a regio...

The frontal belt of the southeastern Anatolia fold-thrust belt in Turkey contains several small to mid size oil fields, producing from the Cretaceous Mardin Group carbonates. Most of the oil fields are located along the east-west to southwest to northeast trending, narrow and asymetrical anticlinal structures which are associated with contractional...