Easternmost Mediterranean evidence of the Zanclean flooding event and subsequent surface uplift: Adana Basin, southern Turkey

• Main Authors: Paola Cipollari, Domenico Cosentino, Giuditta Radeff, Taylor F. Schildgen, Costanza Faranda, Francesco Grossi, Elsa Gliozzi, Alessandra Smedile, Rocco Gennari, Güldemin Darbaş, Francis Ö. Dudas, Kemal Gürbüz, Atike Nazik, Helmut Echtler
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Geology; calcareous nannofossil Reticulofenestra zancleana; benthic foraminifera fall; mm; clay; Easternmost Mediterranean evidence; Ma; Paratethyan ostracod assemblages; planktonic; Reticulofenestra pseudoumbilicus paracme points; Sr; Loxocorniculina djafarovi zone; Adana Basin; Lago; surface; uplift; Zanclean; data; Pliocene; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3453089.v1; https://figshare.com/articles/Easternmost_Mediterranean_evidence_of_the_Zanclean_flooding_event_and_subsequent_surface_uplift_Adana_Basin_southern_Turkey/3453089

According to the literature, the Adana Basin, at the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Basin in southern Turkey, records the Pliocene stage with shallow-marine to fluvial deposits. Our micropalaeontological analysis of samples from the Adana Basin reveal Late Lago–Mare biofacies with Paratethyan ostracod assemblages pertaining to the Loxocorniculina djafarovi zone. Grey clays rich in planktonic foraminifera lie above the Lago–Mare deposits. Within the grey clays, the continuous occurrence of the calcareous nannofossil Reticulofenestra zancleana and the base of the Reticulofenestra pseudoumbilicus paracme points to an Early Zanclean age (5.332–5.199 Ma). Both ostracod and benthic foraminifera indicate epibathyal and bathyal environments. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr measurements on planktonic and benthic foraminifera fall below the mean global ocean value for the Early Zanclean, indicating potentially insufficient mixing of low 87 Sr/ 86 Sr Mediterranean brackish ‘Lago–Mare’ water with the global ocean in the earliest Pliocene. We utilize the ages and palaeodepths of the marine sediments together with their modern elevations to determine uplift rates of the Adana Basin of 0.06 to 0.13 mm a −1 since 5.2–5.3 Ma (total uplift of 350–650 m) from surface data, and 0.02–0.13 mm a −1 since c. 1.8 Ma (total uplift of 30–230 m) from subsurface data.