Micropaleontology and paleoecology of the Neogene sediments in the Adana Basin (South of Turkey)

This paper analyses the stratigraphical features and fossil associations (ostracod and planktonic foraminifer) of the late Miocene deposits in the Adana Basin. In this research, numerous samples were collected from the sediments, both below and above the Messinian evaporitic layers which cropped out in the western and middle part of the Adana Basin, due to paleoenvironmental changes during the Messinian salinity crisis. The fine-grained sediments below the gypsum layers surrounding Topçu and Karayayla villages located in the western part of the Basin are sterile. Nodular anhydrite and enterolithic structures are well developed in these selenitic gypsum layers, which are supposed to represent a sabkha environmental condition. In the middle part of the Adana Basin, some re-sediment detritic gypsum deposits cropped out around Semiramis village houses. The lithological characteristics and faunal assemblages of the sediments both below and above these evaporites are more or less similar to each other. Fossil fauna (ostracod and planktonic foraminifera) demonstrate that these sediments are not older than latest Tortonian, as suggested by the presence of Neogloboquadrina humerosa, and not younger than earliest Messinian, as suggested by the last occurrence of Globigerinoides bulloideus. Similar planktonic assemblages were found in the drill log bored east of the Adana Basin, where there was no evaporitic occurrence. Both the planktonic species and the presence of Globorotalia suterae (from 7.81. Ma to 7.24. Ma) point that also these fine granied sediments a late Tortonian-early Messinian in age. The quantity of kaolinite recorded is relatively higher in the Tortonian-early Messinian than in the late Messinian sediments. All data show that, during the latest Tortonian-earliest Messinian time interval, the area was characterised by shallow marine environments and humid climatic conditions. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.FBE 98/21The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey) and the Research Fund of Çukurova University Grant FBE 98/21. The authors are thankful the Turkish Petroleum Corporation for support of drill log samples in the study area They thank Prof. Dr. Kemal Gürbüz (Çukurova University) for his support during the field studies, and Prof. Dr. Hayriye İbrikçi (Çukurova University) for her critical reading and very useful comments and many thanks to both the reviewers and those in the editorial service for their critiques and suggestions

Environmental interpretation of the Kuzgun formation in the Adana Basin through microfossils [Adana Havzasi Kuzgun formasyonunun mikrofosiller ile ortamsal yorumu]

The Adana Basin is bordered by the Ecemiş Fault Zone to the west, Taurus Mountain to the north, Amanos Mountain to the east and Mediterranean to the south. The Tertiary sequence of the Adana Basin is limited by Paleozoic and Mesozoic rock units at the base and Quaternary sediments at the top. This study deals with the Kuzgun formation in the Tertiary sequence. The Salbaş tuffite member of the Late Miocene Kuzgun formation, the subject of this study, lies along an east-west direction and has a thickness varying between 50 cm and 10 m. The benthic foraminiferal and ostracod assemblages are investigated for the purpose of determining the effects of the living conditions when the Tortonian of tuffite levels developed in the basin. For this reason, seven stratigraphic sections were measured from the region including tuffite levels. A total of 45 foraminiferal species from 31 genera, and 37 ostracod species from 26 genera were identified from 96 samples. Although these described benthic foraminiferal and ostracod species decrease or are even extinct in the tuffite levels, they show high diversities and similarities at the units situated above or below the tuffite levels. In addition, according to the benthic foraminiferal and ostracod assemblages, it is pointed out that the tuffite levels have been deposited in the lagoonal conditions in the eastern and shallow marinal enviroment of the western part of the basin

A paleoenvironmental test of the Messinian Salinity Crisis using Miocene-Pliocene clays in the Adana Basin, Southern Turkey

The Messinian Salinity Crisis is an important paleooceanographic event around the Mediterranean area. Due to the collision of the North African Plate with the European Plate the Mediterranean area lost its connection to the Atlantic. The Mediterranean sea became shallower; the biota changed and thick evaporitic beds were formed. Paleoenvironmental characteristics of Upper Miocene-Pliocene units of the Adana Basin have been explained by using clay mineralogy analysis. For this purpose, X-ray diffraction studies were carried out on 85 samples collected. In the Upper Miocene-Pliocene sequence high kaolinite content of siltstone, claystone, sandstone, marl and silty marl of the Tortonian units indicates a humid climate. During the Messinian, the content of kaolinite decreased, indicating that the area was arid. After the Messinian, the kaolinite content increased again, showing that environmental conditions of the area became humid again. Correlations of illite and smectite content indicate humidity and temperature of the paleoenvironment, according to previous studies carried out in sequences related to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The illite content increased in the Tortonian, diminished during the Messinian and increased again in the Pliocene while the smectite ratio showed the opposite trend. In this study, illite ratio is increased during Tortonian and Messinian and decreased in Pliocene while smectite ratio is increased from Tortonian to Pliocene. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey) and the Research Fund of Çukurova University. We also thank to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation for support of drill log samples in the study area

Sedimentary evidence for late Messinian uplift of the SE margin of the central Anatolian Plateau: Adana Basin, Southern Turkey

The Adana Basin of southern Turkey, located at the SE margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau in the vicinity of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone, is ideally suited to record Neogene and Quaternary topographic and tectonic changes in the easternmost Mediterranean realm. On the basis of our correlation of 34 seismic reflection profiles with corresponding exposed units along the margins of the Adana Basin, we identify and characterize the seismic facies that corresponds to the upper part of the Messinian Handere Formation (ca. 5.45 to 5.33 Ma), which consists mainly of fluvial conglomerates and marls. The seismic reflection profiles indicate that ca. 1100 km3 of the Handere Formation upper sub-unit is distributed over ca. 3000 km2, reflecting local sedimentation rates of up to 12.5 mm year1. This indicates a major increase in both sediment supply and subsidence rates at ca. 5.45 Ma. Our provenance analysis of the Handere Formation upper sub-unit based on clast counting and palaeocurrent measurements reveals that most of the sediment is derived from the Taurus Mountains at the SE margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau and regions farther north. A comparison of these results with the composition of recent fluvial conglomerates and the present-day drainage basins indicates major changes between late Messinian and present-day source areas. We suggest that these changes in drainage patterns and lithological characteristics result from uplift and ensuing erosion of the SE margin of the plateau. We interpret the tectonic evolution of the southern flank of the Anatolian Plateau and the coeval subsidence and sedimentation in the Adana Basin to be related to deep lithospheric processes, particularly lithospheric delamination and slab break-off

Stratigraphic architecture of the upper Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin (Southern Turkey): Implications for the Messinian Salinity Crisis and the Taurus petroleum system

This paper is mainly based on field work carried out on the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin (southern Turkey), as well as on the interpretation of seismic reflection profiles to understand 3D geometries of the basin fill. Chronostratigraphic constraints for the Messinian deposits are from micropaleontological studies on foraminifera, ostracods, and calcareous nannofossils, recently carried out on the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin. Our results indicate that this basin developed in a marginal area strictly related to the Mediterranean realm. The Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin record all the main steps of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) that affected the Mediterranean area at the end of the Miocene. The new stratigraphic model for the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin provided in this work gives new insights into both the MSC and the Taurus petroleum system. Despite their complete correspondence with the MSC, the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin show some differences with respect to the current conceptual model for the MSC. For example, in the current conceptual model for the MSC, only one regional erosional surface (MES) characterizes the MSC deposits. In the Adana Basin, two regional erosional surfaces, named MES1 and MES2, separate the Messinian deposits related to the MSC in Lower Evaporites, Resedimented Lower Evaporites (RLE), and upper Messinian continental deposits containing a late Lago-Mare ostracod assemblage (mainly fluvial coarse-grained and fine-grained sediments). In some places, Brecciated Limestones lie just above the MES1 and beneath the RLE. In addition, the RLE are thought to be related to the same step that brought to the Messinian halite deposition throughout the Mediterranean, pointing to a hyperhaline environment. In contrast, the fine-grained deposits of the RLE of the Adana Basin show the occurrence of Parathetyan brackish ostracod fauna (early Lago-Mare ostracod assemblages), which defines an oligohaline depositional environment for the RLE. In terms of hydrocarbon prospecting, the Messinian evaporites of the Adana Basin have been considered as a perfect seal for the active Taurus petroleum system. Our results show that due to the complex stratigraphic architecture of the basin fill and the occurrence of two regional erosional surfaces (MES1 and MES2), the Messinian evaporites are discontinuously present both in surface and in the subsurface of the Adana Basin. However, seal properties in the Adana Basin could be found in the Lower Pliocene deep marine clays of the Avadan Formation. This work leads to suggest a new stratigraphical model for the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin, allowing us to amend the classical scheme with respect to the Messinian, and to officially define some new formations within the stratigraphy of the Adana Basin. © Società Geologica Italiana, Roma 2016

Sedimentary evidence for late Messinian uplift of the SE margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau: Adana Basin, southern Turkey

The Adana Basin of southern Turkey, located at the SE margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau in the vicinity of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone, is ideally suited to record Neogene and Quaternary topographic and tectonic changes in the easternmost Mediterranean realm. On the basis of our correlation of 34 seismic reflection profiles with corresponding exposed units along the margins of the Adana Basin, we identify and characterize the seismic facies that corresponds to the upper part of the Messinian Handere Formation (ca. 5.45 to 5.33 Ma), which consists mainly of fluvial conglomerates and marls. The seismic reflection profiles indicate that ca. 1100 km3 of the Handere Formation upper sub-unit is distributed over ca. 3000 km2, reflecting local sedimentation rates of up to 12.5 mm year-1. This indicates a major increase in both sediment supply and subsidence rates at ca. 5.45 Ma. Our provenance analysis of the Handere Formation upper sub-unit based on clast counting and palaeocurrent measurements reveals that most of the sediment is derived from the Taurus Mountains at the SE margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau and regions farther north. A comparison of these results with the composition of recent fluvial conglomerates and the present-day drainage basins indicates major changes between late Messinian and present-day source areas. We suggest that these changes in drainage patterns and lithological characteristics result from uplift and ensuing erosion of the SE margin of the plateau. We interpret the tectonic evolution of the southern flank of the Anatolian Plateau and the coeval subsidence and sedimentation in the Adana Basin to be related to deep lithospheric processes, particularly lithospheric delamination and slab break-off. © 2015 The Authors. Basin Research © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of SedimentologistsTA.P05.009.003, TA.P05.009 California Department of Fish and Game: STR373/21-2 European Science Foundation Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst Kairo: GR Genome Institute of SingaporeThis work was supported by the Vertical Anatolian Movements Project (VAMP), funded by the TOPO-EUROPE initiative of the European Science Foundation to DC (IGAG-CNR, com. TA.P05.009, mod. TA.P05.009.003) and MS (DFG project STR373/21-2), and a student grant by the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) to GR. We are grateful to the national oil and Gas Company of Turkey (T?rkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakl???, TPAO) for allowing access to the seismic lines of the Adana Basin and granting permission to publish this data set. Particular thanks to J. Sayago for assistance with the Petrel software, to G. Zeilinger for assistance with GIS software, to C. Yildirim for helpful discussions, to E. Giachetta for the suggestions on the minimum eroded volume calculation and to R. Kutzner for help with fieldwork. We thank D. Pearson, A. Robertson and P. Umhoefer for constructive reviews

Messinian Paleoenvironmental Changes in the Easternmost Mediterranean Basin (Adana Basin, Southern Turkey)

""\\"We present detailed Messinian paleoenvironmental reconstructions for the Adana Basin based on a multidisciplinary. approach that utilizes the fossil content of the Kuzgun and Handere Formations. To reconstruct the paleoenvironmental changes. that affected the Adana Basin during the Messinian, we analyzed mollusk, ostracod, planktonic and benthonic foraminifer, and. calcareous nannofossil assemblages from 2 stratigraphic sections near Kabasakal village (Adana, southern Turkey). To determine if. the environmental changes recognized in the Adana Basin are local or regional, and to understand the extent to which the global. changes in oceanic circulation impacted the Mediterranean sedimentary basins, we compare our results with Messinian sections from. other locations in the Mediterranean region (northern Italy, southern Italy, Cyprus, Algeria, and southern Turkey). The occurrence. of N. humerosa, G. bulloides, G. woodi, N. acostaensis, N. atlantica (planktonic forams), S. multiflora, T. rugosa, P. elongata, C. scitula,. L. lipadusensis (ostracods), R. rotaria, A. primus, and A. delicatus (calcareous nannofossils) allows us to constrain the uppermost part. of the Kuzgun Formation to the early Messinian. The ostracod assemblages indicate an enclosed marine environment characterized. by sporadic local freshwater inputs that decreased the salinity of the basin. In contrast, in the late Messinian Handere Formation, the. presence of Paratethyan ostracods pertaining to the Loxoconcha mülleri zone and to the Loxocorniculina djafarovi zone in the Handere. Formation indicates the occurrence of the Messinian brackish water Lago-Mare event in the Adana Basin, which occurred throughout. the Mediterranean between 5.60 and 5.33 Ma.\\""