Crustal flow driving twin domes exhumation and low-angle normal faulting in the Menderes Massif of western Anatolia

Lower crustal flow in regions of post-orogenic extension has been inferred to explain the exhumation of metamorphic core complexes and associated low-angle normal (detachment) fault systems. However, the origin of detachment faults, whether initially formed as high-angle or low-angle shear zones, and the extension is symmetric or asymmetric remains enigmatic. Here, we use numerical modeling constrained by geophysical and geological data to show that symmetric extension in the central Menderes Massif of western Anatolia is accommodated by the crustal flow. Our geodynamic model explains how opposite dipping Gediz and Büyük Menderes detachment faults are formed by ∼40° footwall rotation. Model predictions agree with seismic tomography data that suggests updoming of lower crust beneath the exhumed massifs, represented as “twin domes” and a flat Moho. Our work helps to account for the genetic relation between the exhumation of metamorphic core complexes and low-angle normal faulting in both Cordillera and Aegean orogenic regions and has important implications on crustal dynamics in extensional provinces.