Late Quaternary evolution of the Gediz and Büyük Menderes grabens, Western Anatolia, Turkey

Late Cenozoic uplift of western Turkey: Improved dating of the Kula Quaternary volcanic field and numerical modelling of the Gediz River terrace staircase

“…The youngest sapropel is well-dated to 9-6 ka, the Early Holocene climatic optimum, during which pollen evidence indicates pervasive deciduous vegetation in the eastern Mediterranean region, with the estimated annual rainfall up to ∼1300 mm (Rossignol-Strick, 1999), roughly double the typical present-day value for western Turkey. This abundant vegetation would expected to reduce the sediment influx into the Gediz, and the associated high discharge would thus be expected to cause this river to incise, potentially explaining the ∼5 m of Holocene incision that is typical along this river within the Alaşehir Graben (Hakyemez et al, 1999); thus creating accommodation space for subsequent sedimentation. This event may also explain the ∼5 m of incision by the Gediz downstream of Kula Bridge (Fig.…”

Stratigraphic, structural and geochemical features of the NE–SW trending Neogene volcano-sedimentary basins in western Anatolia: Implications for associations of supra-detachment and transtensional strike-slip basin formation in extensional tectonic setting

“…The late Tertiary volcano-sedimentary basins in Western Anatolia (the eastern part of the Aegean Extensional Province) can be grouped as follows: (a) the Oligocene-Miocene molasse basins (Sözbilir, 2002(Sözbilir, , 2005; (b) the Neogene volcano-sedimentary basins (Ercan et al, 1978;S ßengör, 1987;Scott, 1991, 1994a;Helvacı, 1995;Helvacı and Yagmurlu, 1995;Seyitoglu, 1997a;Helvacı and Alonso, 2000;Yılmaz et al, 2000;Purvis and Robertson, 2004;Ersoy et al, 2010); and (c) the PlioceneQuaternary E-W-trending grabens (e.g., Cohen et al, 1995;Emre, 1996; Hakyemez et al, 1999;Bozkurt and Sözbilir, 2004;Çiftçi and Bozkurt, 2009). The Neogene volcano-sedimentary deposits, which are located on the northern part of the Menderes Massif, were mainly developed in NE-SW-trending basins that are cut and displaced by nearly E-W-trending active high-angle normal faults bounding the Pliocene-Quaternary grabens.…”

“…The E-W-trending PlioceneQuaternary grabens include, the Simav half-graben (Seyitoglu, 1997b), and the Gediz (Cohen et al, 1995;Emre, 1996;Hakyemez et al, 1999;Bozkurt and Sözbilir, 2004;Çiftçi and Bozkurt, 2009), Küçük Menderes (Rojay et al, 2005;Emre and Sözbilir, 2007), and Büyük Menderes (Hakyemez et al, 1999) grabens which are actively deformed by basin-facing normal faults ( Figs. 1 and 2).…”

Composing communities: Chalcolithic through Iron Age survey ceramics in the Marmara Lake basin, western Turkey

“…), settlements in the basin were situated in the rolling hills of Bin Tepe and in the foothills north and northeast of modern Lake Marmara. A year-round body of water, the lake probably formed in the Chalcolithic (Hakyemez et al 1999(Hakyemez et al , 2013Roosevelt 2010). Wetlands, in both the river valley and lake basin, prime agricultural land, and their associated resources made this specific region particularly attractive to those living in the wider area.…”