Stratigraphic architecture of the upper Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin (southern Turkey): implications for the Messinian Salinity Crisis and the Taurus petroleum system


RADAEFF G., COSENTINO D., CIPOLLARI P., SCHILDGEN T. F., IADANZA A., STRECKER M. R., ...More

ITALIAN JOURNAL OF GEOSCIENCES, vol.135, no.3, pp.408-424, 2016 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 135 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2016
  • Doi Number: 10.3301/ijg.2015.18
  • Journal Name: ITALIAN JOURNAL OF GEOSCIENCES
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.408-424
  • Çukurova University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This paper is mainly based on field work carried out on the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin ( southern Turkey), as well as on the interpretation of seismic reflection profiles to understand 3D geometries of the basin fill. Chronostratigraphic constraints for the Messinian deposits are from micropaleontological studies on foraminifera, ostracods, and calcareous nannofossils, recently carried out on the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin. Our results indicate that this basin developed in a marginal area strictly related to the Mediterranean realm. The Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin record all the main steps of the Messinian Salinity Crisis ( MSC) that affected the Mediterranean area at the end of the Miocene. The new stratigraphic model for the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin provided in this work gives new insights into both the MSC and the Taurus petroleum system. Despite their complete correspondence with the MSC, the Messinian deposits of the Adana Basin show some differences with respect to the current conceptual model for the MSC. For example, in the current conceptual model for the MSC, only one regional erosional surface ( MES) characterizes the MSC deposits. In the Adana Basin, two regional erosional surfaces, named MES1 and MES2, separate the Messinian deposits related to the MSC in Lower Evaporites, Resedimented Lower Evaporites ( RLE), and upper Messinian continental deposits containing a late Lago-Mare ostracod assemblage ( mainly fluvial coarse-grained and fine-grained sediments). In some places, Brecciated Limestones lie just above the MES1 and beneath the RLE. In addition, the RLE are thought to be related to the same step that brought to the Messinian halite deposition throughout the Mediterranean, pointing to a hyperhaline environment. In contrast, the fine-grained deposits of the RLE of the Adana Basin show the occurrence of Parathetyan brackish ostracod fauna ( early Lago-Mare ostracod assemblages), which defines an oligohaline depositional environment for the RLE.