Palustrine carbonates and pedogenic calcretes in the Çal basin of SW anatolia: Implications for the plio-pleistocene regional climatic pattern in the eastern mediterranean

Abstract

Sedimentologic and stable isotopic studies in the Çal basin-fill provide new insights on the late Neogene-Quaternary climatic pattern in the eastern Mediterranean. Long-term subsidence and terrestrial sedimentation in the basin beginning in the late Miocene are recorded in alluvial fan and fluvial deposits overlain by Pliocene palustrine carbonates. An erosional unconformity separates the Pleistocene siliciclastic and calcrete deposits above as a single sedimentary unit resting on top of floodplain fines and restricted to the basin center.The stable isotopic analysis of the palustrine carbonates and pedogenic calcretes displays a wide range of values (-7.98<?18O<-6.38‰ and -8.89<?18O<-7.06‰, respectively) and the lack of significant ?18O-?13C covariance (r=0.59 and 0.24) may indicate subhumid conditions or significant diagenetic alteration. The ?13C values of these carbonates (-7.71<?13C<-4.08‰ and -9.15<?13C<-6.17‰, respectively), organic ?13C data from calcretes (-27.88 and -24.57‰, average value: -26.53‰), and floral remains indicate that the landscapes were dominated by C3 forest plants. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.