The rift-related Late Cretaceous drowning of the Gümüşhane carbonate platform (NE Turkey)

In the Gümüşhane region (NE Turkey), carbonate platform and basin deposits, crop out with excellent exposures. In this area, two localities (Mescitli-İkisu region, 10 km west of the Gümüş hane and Kale-Kilop region, 20 km southeast of the Gümüşhane), in which the related successions are particularly well exposed, have been studied in detail. The outcropping shallow water limestones of the Berdiga Formation (Eastern Pontides Carbonate Platform) were deposited during Late Jurassic-Cenomanian p.p. times in peritidal environments. The overlying Kermutdere Formation consists of monogenic breccias, calciturbidites, red pelagic limestone and siliciclastic turbidites, which were deposited in slope and basin environments. In the Gümüşhane region, the above Formations record the evolution from platform to basin settings in relation to an extensional regime set up in the Cenomanian. The tectonics-related drowning of the Eastern Pontides carbonate platform resulted in graben-semi graben basins in which deep marine sediments were deposited during Late Cretaceous times, having a wedge geometry.