Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Üniversitesi Mühendislik Bilimleri Dergisi

Öz

The
Messinian salinity crisis in the marine Mediterranean Sea area has been studied
from widely different perspectives. Nevertheless, non-marine paleoenvironmental
and paleoclimatic records of the late Miocene surrounding the Mediterranean
area are very limited in their spatial range. The paleosols and
fluvio-lacustrine sedimentary rocks (limestone, marlstone and diatomite) of
Bayramhacılı Member of Ürgüp Formation in Güllüdere Section were examined using
polarized-light microscopy, X-ray diffractometry (XRD) as well as by chemical
methods. Red colored paleosols formed within these terrestrial sedimentary
rocks under near surface or surface conditions, and comprise predominantly of
smectite ± illite with feldspar, quartz, opal-CT, serpentine and amphibole. Micomorphological
development of flaky smectite edges illite on and between devitrified volcanic
glass and relict feldspar crystal reveals in-situ precipitation based on
dissolution and precipitation mechanisms. The sedimentary rocks such as
limestone, marlstone and diatomite formed in lacustrine environment. The
alteration of the ignimbrites caused the depletion of Si, and increase of
Al+Fe+Mg, Ti, and K (and related Ba+Sr) favored precipitation of smectite ±
illite in paleosols. The appearance of limestone, marlstone and diatomite from
the upper profile level is suggestive of a shift to more arid or more seasonal
conditions that is equivalent with a prominent change in sediment provenance
and these indicate decrease in sedimentation rate during the latter part of the
Messinian age.