Geomorphological, depositional, and foraminiferal indicators of late Quaternary tectonic uplift in Iskenderun Bay, Turkey

By: , and 
Edited by: Yilderim Dilek and Spyros Pavlides

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Abstract

Iskenderun Bay is a major shallow embayment in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, where the African and Anatolian Plates converge. This tectonically active basin was investigated for oceanographic, sedimentological, geochemical, and foraminiferal parameters. On the basis of the data acquired, the distribution of living and fossil foraminifera in 284 grab and 54 gravity core samples was determined, the basin floor bathymetry of the bay constructed, radiocarbon ages of sediments and fossils ascertained, and depositional environments reconstructed. It has been discovered that for the last 13.5 k.y., water masses were stratified and sedimentation was discontinuous within the basin, which is characterized by irregular sea bottom morphology. The sedimentation rate was very slow, varying in time and space from 0 to 0.012 cm yr−1. The foraminiferal distributions were spatially varied and discontinuous and indicate a reversal from deep to shallow marine conditions in the cores. These irregularities were attributed to active tectonics in the bay and a major tectonic uplift of the bay since the late Pleistocene.

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Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title Geomorphological, depositional, and foraminiferal indicators of late Quaternary tectonic uplift in Iskenderun Bay, Turkey
DOI 10.1130/2006.2409(27)
Volume 409
Year Published 2006
Language English
Publisher Geological Society of America
Contributing office(s) Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Description 24 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Monograph
Larger Work Title Postcollisional tectonics and magmatism in the Mediterranean region and Asia
First page 591
Last page 614
Country Turkey
Other Geospatial Iskenderun Bay
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