Middle-Late Eocene initiation and Early Miocene advanced development of the Arabia-Tauride collision zone: Insights from detrital records in the Amanos Mountains, SE Türkiye

To clarify the timing and development of the Arabia-Tauride collision zone in SE Türkiye, we present new detrital zircon U-Pb ages, titanite U-Pb geochronology and trace-element data, together with heavy-mineral assemblages from Paleozoic to Miocene sandstones in the Amanos Mountains, northwestern Arabian platform. Detrital zircon age distributions from Lower Cambrian to Paleocene sandstones are dominated by Neoproterozoic and older populations, characteristic of the Arabian-Nubian Shield and/or recycled sources, with only minor Upper Cretaceous grains in the uppermost Cretaceous and Paleocene sandstones. Titanite age spectra and heavy-mineral assemblages from a Paleocene sandstone indicate recycled and ophiolitic sources. In contrast, Lower Miocene sandstones record a major provenance shift, characterized by widespread Campanian and Eocene zircon populations, coeval titanite components (mainly derived from magmatic sources), and heavy-mineral assemblages dominated by garnet, epidote and titanite (derived from greenschist- to amphibolite-facies metamorphic rocks). Integrated regional stratigraphical and structural evidence, including compressional deformation of Paleogene successions, Late Eocene to Oligocene regional unconformity, and Oligocene flexural forebulge development, together suggest that initial ‘soft’ Tauride-Arabia collision began during the Middle to Late Eocene. Southward trans-suture sediment supply was established during the Early Miocene, following probable closure of an intervening remnant deep-water basin, coupled with progressive Tauride exhumation and uplift. Middle to Late Miocene sedimentation and deformation relate to post-collision suture tightening. The Arabia-Tauride collision was regionally diachronous, with pre- to early-collisional settings persisting longer to the east and the west of the Arabian promontory. In response, sediments from the collision zone in SE Türkiye were routed westwards into the Mediterranean deep-water basin.