Paleoenvironmental evolution of the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene fluvio-deltaic sequence of the Denizli Basin (SW Turkey)

Abstract

The late Pliocene-early Pleistocene Tosunlar succession (Denizli Basin, southwestern Turkey) represents fluvial-dominated delta environments at the margins of a brackish long-lived lake. Two main facies associations are documented: (i) a delta front facies association, with a distal (DF1) and proximal (DF2) deposits; and (ii) a delta plain facies association that contains distributary channel (DP1) and interdistributary swamp (DP2) deposits.The stable isotopic analysis of the mollusc faunas exhibit a narrow range of values (-4.68<?18O<+0.21‰ and +0.43<?13C<+3.27‰, respectively) and the very poor ?18O-?13C correlation (r=-0.16) may indicate hydrologically open lake and significant diagenetic alteration. The mollusc faunas and their stable isotope ratios show a biogeographically isolated brackish lake system under semiarid climatic conditions. Under special environmental conditions the endemic faunal composition remained constant which is very unusual for a (semi-) isolated long-lived lake setting. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.