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 palaeogeography of Neotethys during its closure is still a matter of debate. This study provides new insights into the Neotethys closure by the discovery in the Intra-Pontide Suture Zone (Turkey) of an accretionary complex that recorded a Late Jurassic (c. 163 Ma) amphibolite-facies metamorphism. 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.