Discovery of new tectonic process during the plate tectonics cycle

A new geological hypothesis -pre-collisional extension of Anatolian and the Alpine continents- has been suggested through a collaborative work by Erkan Gün (former ITU student) and Russ Pysklywec of University of Toronto (Department of Earth Sciences) and Oğuz Göğüş and Gültekin Topuz of ITU (Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences). The findings are based on a synthesis of multidisciplinary set of geological, geophysical data and geodynamical models were published this year in Nature Geoscience-one of the most leading journals in Earth Sciences.

Plate tectonics theory invokes that geological processes such as magmatism, earthquakes, basin/mountain formations are formed by the motion/deformation of lithospheric plates (rigid outer shell), floating above hot asthenospheric mantle.  The results of this new study are surprising because it suggests that tectonic forces stretch continents even before they are transferred into subduction (not after as previously thought during orogenesis/post collisional phases).

It is foreseen that the predictions of this new study may change our understanding on the plate tectonics, as a fundamental theory in earth sciences.


Gün, E., Pysklywec, R.N., Göğüş, O.H., Topuz, G., 2021. Pre-collisional extension ofmicrocontinental terranes by a subduction pulley. Nat. Geosci. 14 (6), 443–450. Please use the link to download the original paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00746-9