LAUSR

Abstract An elongate mountain range known as the “Misis Structural High” located ca. 40 km southeast of Adana city in Turkey, evidences vast tectonic processes in Neogene time. This lineation represents the former border of the Tauride and Eastern Mediterranean basins and extends from Northern Cyprus to the Engizek Mountains by passing through the Misis (Yakapinar) and northerly Andirin regions. Located about 80 km west of the triple junction of the Arabian, Anatolian and African plates, this region is one of the key tectonic lineaments studied for understanding the geologic development of southeast Anatolia. To reveal the geodynamical evolution of the Misis Structural High, we analysed measurements of fault planes including movement vectors (striae), obtained mainly from the highly deformed Misis Complex. The complex is thought to have formed in a basin by the destabilisation of the northerly Tauride margin related to slab pull-back in the Paleogene. Following generation of the Misis Complex by continental collision in the region, units were compressed, thrust over each other and began to rise as an elongate mountain range. Detailed geological fieldwork, mapping and structural analysis of fault planes in the region indicate that the Misis Structural High was uplifted by the effects of a regional transpressional tectonic regime from the NNE-SSE direction which is forming a positive flower structure.