Effects of the Alluvial Geomorphology on the Damage of the Sisam Earthquake in the Bornova Plain

On October 30, 2020, an earthquake struck the offshore region of the north of Samos Island, in the Gulf of Kusadasi with a magnitude of 6.9. According to damage reports, Bayrakli and Bornova districts were the most affected areas by the earthquake based on the extent of damage and loss. This study aims to evaluate the effects of alluvial properties of the Bornova Plain on the distribution of earthquake damage. The address-based damage reports of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and findings of previous studies on the alluvial characteristics of the Bornova Plain were used to interpret the damage distribution. In the study, the damaged building locations were transferred on satellite images and sedimentological-stratigraphic cross-sections. The sedimentological-stratigraphic data of the nine core drillings made in the coastal part of the Bornova Plain presented in the previous studies were associated with the earthquake damage. Alluvial changes related to the Holocene transgression in alluvial stratigraphy present various conditions by means of durability. Six of the collapsed buildings and most of the damaged buildings are located in the mid-Holocene transgression area. In recent years, as an urban renewal area, this field has turned into an area of high-rise apartment blocks and towers. Such change may increase the possibility of earthquake risks. In this regard, it is important to determine the characteristics of the alluviums that form in the alluvial areas surrounding the Izmir bay

Paleogeography of Finike Plain and Geoarchaeology of Limyra in the Light of New Paleontological Analysis

Limyra or Zemuri is located in the southeast of the Teke peninsula, on the Finike Plain and the foothills of Tocak Mountain to the north. Limyra is one of the important settlements of the Lycian civilization. To determine the natural environment changes from the first settlement in Limyra until today, 46 drillings were done. Detailed paleontological - sedimentological analysis of six of these core drillings was carried out. The identified macrofossils and microfossils have contributed to a better understanding of sedimentologically differentiated environments. Although the surface of the plain is several meters above sea level in the area where the Limyra ruins are located, marine sediments, supported by sedimentological-paleontological analyses, were not reached during the core drillings. The sea rising with the Holocene transgression could not be introduced into the surroundings of Limyra, which is probably between the alluvial fans formed by the Akcay and Alakir streams. However, there was a wetland among the fans, fed by karstic springs along the foothills of Tocak Mountain

Did the Red Sea - Mediterranean connection over the Dead Sea Fault Zone end in the Late Pliocene?

WOS: 000374478500010The delta plain of the Asi (Orontes) river in Hatay (Turkey) is located between two regional major tectonic zones, the Dead Sea Fault Zone from the Red Sea to Antakya and the East Anatolian Fault Zone from Karliova to Antakya. Sediment samples from five cores performed on the Asi delta plain to 15 m depth were studied, and three fossil groups were identified in 5 samples. They mainly consist of 51 foraminiferal species from 42 genera; ostracod genera representing marine, brackish and fresh water environments, and Gastropoda and Bivalvia taxa. The abundance of some benthic Foraminifera in the recent sediment samples, including Euuvigerina reineri (Bedford), Siphonina tubulosa Cushman and Siphonodosaria abyssorum (Brady), which are common in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Red Sea is remarkable. In addition, Euuvigerina reineri (Bedford) individuals about 70 ka have been collected from Magaracik village to the north of the drilling area. The existence of these species in the Quaternary sediments indicates that the water connection via the Gulf of Aqaba on the Dead Sea Fault Zone was still open in the Pleistocene. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved

Did Amphistegina lobifera Larsen reach the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal?

WOS: 000374478500007It has been accepted by many researchers that Amphistegina lobifera Larsen migrated to the Mediterranean Sea via Suez Canal like many other Indo-Pacific originated foraminifers and organisms. This idea was also supported in the studies performed on the Turkish Aegean and Mediterranean coast in the last ten years, due to the discovery of alien benthic foraminifers. However, during field research in the Akkuyu (Mersin) region, a rich benthic foraminifera assemblage was found in the sediment samples, in which Amphistegina lobifera Larsen was abundant. In the present study, when and how Amphistegina lobifera Larsen migrated to the Mediterranean was investigated. Most of the Amphistegina lobifera Larsen individuals observed are found to show similar morphological characteristics with recent samples collected from Turkish coastline, which at first indicated that the individuals from Akkuyu might also be of Holocene age, but the OSL method produced dates of 227.3 +/- 17.8, 87.7 +/- 9.6 and 6.0 +/- 0.6 ka. These ages are Middle Pleistocene, Late Pleistocene and Holocene. In one sample, aged 427.5 +/- 29.4 ka, Spiroloculina antillarum d'Orbigny, which was suggested to be introduced to Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, was found together with Articulina carinata Wiesner. The presence of Spiroloculina antillarum d'Orbigny with Amphistegina lobifera Larsen together with in an other sample, aged 227.3 +/- 17.8 ka, indicates that these foraminifers have been introduced to the Mediterranean in Middle Pleistocene and they might have been living in the Eastern Mediterranean since then. As a result, these age data show that Amphistegina lobifera Larsen individuals did not migrate to the eastern Mediterranean via the Suez Canal which was opened in 1869, but much earlier than that via a different natural water way connecting Indo-Pacific to the Eastern Mediterranean. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved