This award supports a collaborative research project between Professor Ibrahim Cemen of the School of Geology at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma and a Turkish team headed by Dr. Gurol Seyitoglu, Associate Professor of Geological Engineering at Ankara University in Turkey. These scientists plan to conduct research to compare the continental extensional features of West Anatolia to the extensional features in the southern US Basin Ranges, especially the Death Valley region, in terms of geometry and evolution of extensional structures and geochemistry of the extension related igneous and metamorphic rocks. The research will include a field geological study in West Anatolia, to be followed by geochemical analysis and radiometric age determinations on the extension related igneous and metamorphic rocks. The three models on the origin of extensional tectonics: the tectonic escape model, back-arc extension model, and orogenic collapse model, will be tested based on the data collected during this research.
Scope: This project will support collaboration between two scientific teams with complementary expertise and institutional facilities. The US team includes Dr. Cemen, who is a field geologist with expertise in the geology of the western United States, and a graduate student from Oklahoma State University, who will participate in the field research. The Turkish team includes two scientists with special knowledge of the geological sites in the Western Anatolia, as well as a graduate student. The Turkish graduate student will carry out geochemical analysis under the supervision of Dr. Inci Erten at Rice University, and will carry out radiometric age determinations under the supervision of Dr. Kip Hodges at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The project fits well within the objectives of the Division of International Programs.