Late Jurassic amphibolite-facies metamorphism in the Intra-Pontide Suture Zone (Turkey): an eastward extension of the Vardar Ocean from the Balkans into Anatolia?

The paleogeography of Neotethys during its closure is still a matter of debate, This study provides new insights on the Neotethys closure by the discovery in the Intra-Pontide Suture Zone (Turkey) of an accretionary complex that recorded a Late Jurassic (~163 Ma) amphibolite-facies metamorphism. These results are discussed in the framework of the accretionary events that occurred at the southern margin of Laurasia. The resulting picture supports a new model in which the Vardar suture zone, in the Balkans, and the Intra-Pontide suture zone, in Anatolia, represent remnants of the same elongate oceanic basin.