Molluscan Fauna and Stratigraphy of the Uçarsu and Kasaba Formations at Kasaba Miocene Basin (Western Taurides, SW Turkey)

Abstract

In the study, six stratigraphical section has been measured through mollusc-rich Uçarsu and Kasaba formations, outcropping at Kasaba Miocene Basin in western Taurides. By evaluating the paleogeographic and chronostratigraphic denotations of mollusc species, it has been concluded that most of the samples were Mediterranean Tethyan in origin and the other forms, such as Divaricella ornata subornata Hilber, Cerithium zejsneri Pusch and Pitar (Paradione) lilacinoides Schaffer, that was peculiar to the central Paratethys have also been determined. So, for the investigation area, the Paratethyan marine stages were pictured too. By these findings, the age of the shallow-marine Uçarsu formation has been inferred as Upper Burdigalian (Upper EggenburgianCarpathian) and that of the other shallow-marine Kasaba formation as Langhian (Lower Badenian). The former is transgressive in nature at its basal parts and characteristically regressive toward the top, while the latter, grading into the continental environment from a steady shallow marine, displays regressive character throughout. By the context of the paleontological data from Uçarsu and Kasaba formations and superposing of the (studied) units, it is suggested that the emplacement of the Yeşilbarak nappe and the Lycian nappes into the region had initiated in the Upper Burdigalian and continued until the end of the Langhian.