Chapter from:
AAPG Memoir 68:Regional and Petroleum Geology of the Black Sea and Surrounding Region, Edited by A.G. Robinson
AAPG Memoir 68: Regional and Petroleum Geology of the Black Sea and Surrounding Region. Chapter 11: Geology and Tectonic Evolution of the Pontides, by Yucel Yilmaz, Okan Tuysuz, Erdinc Yigitbas, S. Can Genc, and A.M.C. Sengor, Pages 183-226

Yucel Yilmaz
Okan Tuysuz
Erdinc Yigitbas
S. Can Genc
A.M.C. Sengor
Istanbul Technical University (I.T.U.)
Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey

The Pontides represent segments of the Tethyside system that carry the record of Cimmeride and Alpide orogenic events. The Cimmeride orogeny resulted from the elimination of Paleotethys and her dependencies such as the Karakaya marginal basin, which existed during the Triassic. The Paleotethyan Ocean was located to the north of the Cimmerian continent, parts of which form the basement of the Pontides. During the closure of the Paleotethys, an Andean-type magmatic belt was developed on the Cimmerian continent due to the southward subduction of the Paleotethyan Ocean floor. During this period, the Neotethys began to open, possibly as a back-arc basin, behind the Cimmerian continent. In the Dogger assemblage, while the collision between the Scythian platform of Laurasia and Cimmerian continent took place in the north and eliminated most of the Paleotethys Ocean floor, the Neotethys continued to grow in the south.

The late Cretaceous witnessed the elimination of the Neotethys due to its northward subduction under the Pontides. This created a new active continental margin arc. The closure of the Neotethys resulted in the collision

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between the Pontides arc and the Tauride-Anatolide Platform. Its effects continued until the middle Eocene. The present mountain regions began to elevate as a giant horst block during the late Miocene.