AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightThis may imply continuous subsidence in the basin until ~346 ka.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
The sedimentary basins in SW Turkey (e.g., Kale-Tavas, Yatağan, and Ören basins) that developed after the closure of theNeotethys Ocean allow the reconstruction of the tectonic and paleogeographic history of the region. Due to the rich coal reserves,the Yatağan Basin provides a substantial amount of data to infer the paleoenvironment and paleoclimate during the middle Mioceneto Pleistocene. Our work provides new paleontological and radiometric data to constrain the age, paleoclimate, and depositionalenvironment of terrestrial deposits of this basin. We present fossil findings such as mammal bones, gastropods, and palynomorphassemblages from the base of the Turgut Formation. According to these fossils, the formation started to deposit in a brackish-freshwaterlacustrine environment during the late early Miocene–early middle Miocene interval (MN4–5) under warm, subtropical climaticconditions. The brackish conditions may be explained by a marine transgression in the region. The palynological and paleontologicalanalyses from the lignite and underlying and overlying stratigraphy in the Turgut Formation mark a freshwater environment and warmtemperate climatic conditions during the middle–late middle Miocene (MN6–7). 230Th/U dating results of the uppermost levels of thelacustrine carbonates of the Milet Formation reveal a minimum radiometric age of 346 ± 19 ka BP (middle Pleistocene). The uppermostlevels of the Milet Formation overlapped the Göktepe Fault. This may imply continuous subsidence in the basin until ~346 ka.