Late Miocene to Plio-Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine system in the Karacasu Basin (SW Anatolia, Turkey): Depositional, paleogeographic and paleoclimatic implications

Abstract

The sedimentary record of the late Cenozoic Karacasu Basin, a long-lived continental half-graben from southwestern Turkey, is characterized by siliciclastic and carbonate deposits. Sedimentation was controlled by an active NW-SE trending major normal fault along the basin's southern margin and by climatically-induced lake-level changes. Detailed facies analysis subdivides the entire Neogene-Quaternary basin-fill into three distinct litostratigraphic units representing paleogeographic changes and sedimentation patterns throughout the basin evolution.Sedimentation commenced in the late Miocene with the deposition of proximal-medial alluvial fan and fluvial facies (Damdere Formation; FA1). At this stage, alluvial fans developed in elevated areas to the south, prograding towards the basin center. At the beginning of the Pliocene, fresh to slightly alkaline, shallow lake deposits (FA2a) of the Karacaören Formation formed. The lake became open and meromictic conditions developed (FA2b). Pollen data from the FA2b facies show that climate was arid to humid. Climate probably changed cyclically through time producing alternation of Artemisia steppe (cold and dry periods) and more forested vegetation (warm and wet). The open lake facies passes upwards into lake margin facies (FA2c), but it was still dominated by alkaline to slightly saline lake conditions. Sedimentation was almost continuous from the late Miocene to Pleistocene.In the early Quaternary, the basin was dissected by the re-activation of basin bounding faults. The unconformable base of the overlying Quaternary deposits (Karacasu Formation; FA3) reflected the basin's transformation from a half-graben into a full-graben system. Oxygen isotope data from carbonates show an alternation of humid climatic periods, when freshwater settings predominated, and semiarid/arid periods in which the basin hosted alkaline and saline water lakes. Neotectonic activity has rejuvenated many of the basin-bounding faults, causing development of talus aprons and local alluvial fans. The basin was progressively incised by modern rivers that have largely smoothed out the topographic relief of the graben margins. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.