Preliminary findings on the fossil traces in the massive sulphite deposits of Eastern Black Sea Region (Lahanos, Killik and Çayeli)

Abstract

Tubeworm fossils have been found in the Upper Cretaceous aged massive sulphite deposits of the Eastern Black Sea Region. Similar ones of these tube worm fossils have been found in the massive sulfide deposits of Umman, Cyprus, Ireland and Urals. This fossil community defined in very few massive sulfide deposits in the world is the important evidence of the seafloor hydrothermal vents in Pontids. These worm-like forms can be considered as the ancestral forms of the unusual vent communities defined in places where modern hydrothermal vents are observed such as East Pacific Rise, Galapagos and Juan de Fuca Ridge.