Morphotectonic development of surface karst in Western Taurus (Türkiye)

Abstract

Abstract The Taurus Mountains include the most important karstic terrain of Turkey and are divided into three parts the Western, Central, and Eastern Taurus. These mountains include many surface and subsurface karst landforms and the morphometric features of these landforms provide important data on the geomorphological and morphotectonic development of karst areas in the Taurus Mountains. Karstic depressions (poljes and dolines) constitute the most important surface landforms in the Western Taurus Mountains. In this study, a total of 7093 micro depressions (doline) and 74 macro depressions (polje) were detected and morphometric properties were calculated located in the Western Taurus Mountains. The poljes developed within the Beydağları Autochthon and Lycian nappes, while the dolines developed especially in the high plateaus within the Beydağları Autochthon. The morphotectonic development of both landforms is as below shortly. As a result of the northward movement of the African plate from the Early Cretaceous to the Late Miocene, the limestones accumulated in the shallow marine environment were compressed in the north direction and made a counterclockwise movement. Depending on this tectonic activity, the Lycian Nappes from the northwest and the Antalya Nappes from the east thrust over the Baydağları autochthon, and thus nappes, reverse faults and fold systems developed in the study area. The Western Taurus began to continentalization from the Oligocene and began to erode from the Miocene, and also with the erosion, the valley systems began to develop in the Western Taurus. The NE-SW and NW-SE directional normal faults have developed under the influence of extensional tectonics since the Miocene, and this extensional tectonism has caused widespread development of the poljes in the study area. In addition, dolines and paleovalley began to develop in limestone areas at higher elevations with the lowering of the karst base level. All morphometric and morphotectonic processes reveal that the extension of both doline and polje areas in the study area are parallel to the elongation of tectonic structures in the study area.