Sedimentary Geology, 81 (1992) 243-252 243

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam

A tectonically controlled alluvial fan which developed

into a marine fan-delta at a complex triple junction:
Miocene Gildirli Formation of the Adana Basin, Turkey

Naci G6riir
T. I]. Maden Fakiiltesi, Jeoloji B~liirnii, TtJB[TAK-GIo Tek, Ayaza~a, 80626 istanbul, Turkey

(Received April 9, 1992; revised version accepted August 20, 1992)

ABSTRACT

G6riJr, N., 1992. A tectonically controlled alluvial fan which developed into a marine fan-delta at a complex triple junction:
Miocene Gildirli Formation of the Adana Basin, Turkey. Sediment. Geol., 81: 243-252.

The sediments of the Gildirli Formation in the Karaisah embayment of the Adana Basin, southern Turkey, records the
evolution, under tectonic control at a complex triple junction, of an alluvial fan into a fan-delta during a rapid Early
Miocene transgression. The alluvial fan is represented by the lower part of the formation (~akmak Member) and is
characterized by an internal architecture, recording an overall progradation of the coarse proximal fan conglomerates over
distal fine-grained sediments. The conglomerates contain mostly Upper Cretaceous limestone clasts of various sizes derived
from the faulted mountain front of the Taurus range where this limestone is widely exposed. This active mountain front
delimited the Karaisah embayment to the north and provided, during the fault activity, abundant coarse clasts to this area
throughout the deposition of both the alluvial fan and the overlying fan-delta sediments. The production of fine detritus
during the faulting was very limited and therefore this source contributed little fine grain detritus to the sediments.
Provenance studies indicate that the fine clastics in the Gildirli Formation were carried by streams during periods of active
faulting and also during periods of tectonic quiescence from a far-distant source in the hinterlands of the Taurus Mountains.
The recurrent activity along the northern boundary-fault resulted in the intercalation of these fine clastics with the
predominant coarse sediments in this formation. When the study area was flooded from the south by a rapidly deepening
Early Miocene sea, the accumulation of all these sediments took place in a fan-delta environment. The fan-delta sediments
constitute the upper parts of the Gildirli Formation (Kabalaktepe Member) and display an inverse facies pattern in which
foreset beds overlie topsets and hence an upward-fining and deepening sequence. This deviation from a genetic upward-
coarsening sequence of a typical marine delta was perhaps the result of a rapid relative rise in sea-level, due to tectonically
induced subsidence of the area possibly coupled with a short-term global sea-level rise in the Burdigalian.

Introduction sisting in this part of the basin mainly of white to

The Burdigalian to Serravallian Gildirli For-
mation outcrops extensively in the Karaisah re-
gion on the northwestern flank of the Adana
Basin, southern Turkey (Fig. 1). It represents the
initial sediments of the Miocene and lies uncon-
formably on pre-Miocene basement rocks, con-
Correspondence to: N. G6riir, ].T.O. Maden Fakiiltesi, Jeoloji
B61iimii, TI]BiTAK-GIoTek, Ayaza~a, 80626 Istanbul,
Turkey.
pink Globigerina- and Globotruncana-bearing
biomicrites of Late Cretaceous age (G6riir, 1977,
1982; Yal~tn and G6riir, 1984); elsewhere the
pre-Miocene rocks also include dark-coloured and
recrystallized limestones, dolomites and sand-
stones, all of Palaeozoic age, Mesozoic ophiolites,
and Oligocene flysch. The pre-Miocene strati-
graphic basement in the area studied was a broad
platform of low relief with low elevation and an
adjacent depression which influenced greatly the
Miocene sedimentation after the Burdigalian
transgression. Prior to the transgression, the de-

0037-0738/92/$05.00 © 1992 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved

244 N. GORUR

I ] i,i
-1~" Recent --
T
/ I I ~'Ku~'o,~o';. °- ° "
utB.

~'¢'~t-~ ,' ~V _>d- 47-~-~-~'=q

s// . / / ~ ,
I "1 ) ~ ..... (~ =") ~ ...... -- ....
[~3 p'io -Qu at..... Y ~ r ~ : , ~ : ~ - i ~ ~'~
I
j r . "." . ' ." . " - " . ' O " " ---
/
ooo o o o; -I
W' " ( Kuzgun F. "0"0 '0 ' - ~ / ' - - - - H
' ' - ~ , ' 7 • o • ?

-- _ (2150 m.)

~-.~__- __
/I I l I I . I I • [ I(/ 1 I," I7 ~ ~
L,-J-xl I I IKP I I ill ' I ' I 7 Z ~ ~ _ ~
~ I I i Ii I i l i I . . / ~ ' : t ] Z Z ] 7
I I i r'-"l i i I i i i i j i~'( - I

Fig. 1. Geological map of the study area; the inset shows its Fig. 2. Early Miocene stratigraphy of the Adana Basin.
location in the eastern Mediterranean. 1 = pre-Miocene base-
ment consisting mostly of Upper Cretaceous carbonates; 2 =
alluvial fan deposits of the t~akmak Member of the Gildirli
Formation; 3 = fan-delta deposits of the Kabalaktepe Mem- pression was the recipient of the continental sedi-
ber of the Gildirti Formation; 4 = reefal limestones of the ments of the Gildirli Formation, whereas after
Karaisah Formation; 5 = open-marine shales of the Giiven S
the transgression it received the upper marginal
Formation; 6 = turbidites of the Cing6z Formation; 7 =
measured sections; 8 = bedding. KP = Karaisah platform; KE
marine clastics of the same formation and the
= Karaisah embayment: All the formations are of Early overlying sediments of the Given~ and Cing6z
Miocene age. M = Misis Mountains (inset). Formations. The platform became the site of the

# EURASIAN PLATE ~ N

~ N A T O L I A N PLATE / ""~/~

~ AD-ANA-~- ' ~ /~ KM

. . . . . _"~,.;~.,~.// t"1 ARABIAN PLATE

AFRICAN PLATE c~'--~-~" /~l 0 , 200kin

Fig. 3. Simplified neotectonic map of Turkey. Lines with black triangles indicate subduction zones with triangles on the upper
plate; ladder pattern is Suture Zone; lines with half arrows are strike-slip faults; filled arrows indicate direction of relative motion
of plates; lines with hatchures are normal faults; dotted regions are depressions, t t G S = Aegean Graben System; BS = Bitlis
Suture Zone; CA = Cyprus arc; DSF = Dead Sea Fault Zone; EAF = East Anatolian Fault Zone; EF = Ecemi~ Fault; HA =
Hellenic arc; KJ = Karhova junction; KM = Kahramanmara§; NAF = Northern Anatolian Fault Zone; P S T = Pliny-Strabo Trans-
form Fault.
TECTONICALLY CONTROLLED ALLUVIAL FAN WHICH DEVELOPED INTO A MARINE FAN-DELTA
reefal carbonates of the Karaisah Formation soon
after the inundation (Figs. 1 and 2). For the sake
of simplicity, hereafter the platform will be called
the Karaisah platform and the adjacent depres-
sion will be called the Karaisah embayment.
The Gildirli Formation may be divided into a
lower alluvial fan and an upper marine fan-delta.
Provenance studies of these sediments indicate
two sources: one local source which episodically
provided very coarse sediments, and a second
distal source which provided much finer-grained
sediments. It is proposed that the local source
may have been an intermittently rising block
bounded by an active boundary-fault located
along the foothills of the Taurus Mountains, de-
limiting the depositional area to the north (Fig.
1). The distal source was probably the hinterlands
of these mountains. Because of erosion and burial
by the younger sediments, this fault is not ex-
posed today; its nature and geometry are there-
fore not known. It probably developed along with
the formation of the Adana Basin at the triple
junction of the Dead Sea, the East Anatolian
transform fault and the Cyprus-Iskenderun
transtensional boundary (Fig. 3) and was active
during the Early Miocene deposition, controlling
the facies distribution and characteristics of the
sediments accumulated during this time interval.
The aim of this paper is to describe the Gildirli
Formation in detail as an example of an alluvial
fan evolving into a marine fan-delta under a such
tectonic setting.
Early Miocene stratigraphy of the Adana Basin
The Adana Basin is delimited to the north and
northwest by the Taurus and to the southeast by
the Misis Mountains. It extends southward un-
derneath the Mediterranean (Cilician Basin) as
far as Cyprus (Figs. 1 and 3). The formation of
this basin is poorly understood and there is no
consensus on a model for its origin. ~;eng~Sr et al.
(1980, 1985) suggested that it probably formed
during the Late Miocene as a result of the incom-
patibility problems arising at an intercontinental
FFF-triple junction where the East Anatolian and
the Dead Sea Transform Faults meet (Fig. 3).
This Africa/Arabia/Anatolia triple junction,
245
centred near the town of Kahramanmara~ in
southeastern Turkey, developed during the neo-
tectonic episode of Turkey which formed in the
late Tertiary with the elimination of the last
Neo-Tethyan ocean along the Bitlis Suture Zone
as a result of the collision between the Arabian
and the Eurasian plates (Fig. 3). The post-colli-
sional intracontinental convergence and the con-
tinuous squeezing of Eastern Anatolia between
the Arabian and Eurasian plates caused a pro-
gressive thickening and shortening of the crust
and forced the Anatolian land mass to move away
from the high strain area. Consequently, an Ana-
tolian wedge has been driven westwards along
two major strike-slip faults on the dextral North
Anatolian and sinistral East Anatolian Transform
Faults to override the oceanic lithosphere of the
Mediterranean along the Hellenic and Cyprus
subduction zones (Fig. 3) (~eng/Sr, 1979; Dewey et
al., 1986). The generation of the East Anatolian
Fault Zone and the Bitlis Suture gave rise to a
triple junction located at the common corner of
the African, Arabian and Anatolian plates in the
vicinity of Kahramanmara§ to the northeast of
the Adana Basin (Fig. 3). The latter formed as an
incompatibility gap associated with displacements
around this triple junction.
The collision between the Arabian and Anato-
lian plates which was until recently thought to be
of Middle Miocene age (~eng6r, 1979; ~eng6r
and Yllmaz, 1981; Dewey et al., 1986; G6riir,
1988) was put back to Eocene-Miocene (Hemp-
ton, 1985; Ydmaz, 1992). This is more compatible
with the absence of Late Miocene rifting in the
Adana Basin where the sedimentation started in
the Burdigalian. An alternative model is that the
Adana Basin opened in the Early Miocene as an
extensional fore-arc basin north of the Cyprus
trench (Jackson and McKenzie, 1984). This exten-
sion may still be a result of the triple junction
incompatibility if the recent older dates for the
Anatolia-Arabia collision are valid.
The Adana Basin contains up to six thousand
metres of Burdigalian to Recent sediments (Fig.
2). The Early Miocene portion of this infill is
represented by the Gildirli, Karaisah, Giiven~
and the Cing6z Formations. The Gildirli Forma-
tion consists mainly of coarse limestone conglom-
246
erates and associated sandstones and siltstones.
These sediments form the subject of this paper
and are described in detail in the following pages.
They pass both upward and basinward in the
Karaisah embayment into the G~venq Formation,
an open-marine shale rich in Globigerina and
Pteropoda (G6rfir, 1977, 1985); on the Karaisah
platform, the Gildirli rocks are succeeded by the
coral-algal reef limestones of the Karaisah For-
mation. The Cing6z Formation is a thick turbidite
unit brought into the basinal areas where the
deposition of the Gfiven§ shales was taking place
(Fig. 2). These terrigenous turbidites were most
probably transported in from the northern fault-
controlled margin of the Adana Basin. The shales
below the turbidite unit are called the K6pekli
shales, and are differentiated from the upper
ones by their relatively high content of carbona-
ceous material.
Gildirli Formation
This consists of conglomerates, sandstones and
siltstones which are characteristically red and un-
fossiliferous at the base and yellowish grey and
fossiliferous at the top. The red beds are called
the ~akmak Member and the upper fossiliferous
part is called the Kabalaktepe Member (G6rfir,
1977). Their principal exposures are found in the
Karaisah embayment; the ~akmak Member is
particularly well exposed in the vicinities of
Gildirli and (~akmak villages, whereas the Kabal-
NW
120 rn1
0 250 500m
Fig. 4. Reconstructed cross-sectionof the L~wer Miocene sedimentsbetween the measuredsections 1 to 6. For location see Fig. 1.
N.GC)ROR
aktepe Member outcrops extensively around Ner-
gizlik (Figs. 1 and 4). The thickness and geometry
of the (~akmak Member depends on the configu-
ration of the Karaisah embayment; it reaches a
maximum thickness in the centre (more than 300
m) and thins toward the Karaisah platform with
an overall lens-shaped geometry. On the other
hand, the Kabalaktepe Member is over 50 m
thick in the embayment but not more than 10 m
thick on the platform where it forms the basal
clastics of the Karaisah limestone. The detailed
facies descriptions of these two members are
given below.
~akmak Member
The red beds of this member consist of con-
glomerates, sandstones and siltstones. The con-
glomerates make up the largest portion of the
member. They are crudely bedded with individual
beds varying from 50 to 70 cm in thickness. These
rocks are very poorly sorted; most of the clasts
are 5 to 10 cm in diameter, although some clasts
up to 100 cm in size are present. The clasts are
moderately well-rounded with rough and cor-
roded surface textures. The largest clasts usually
occur at the base of the sections studied; they
decrease in size from the base upwards. Their
shapes are predominantly spheroidal with subor-
dinate roller and bladed types (Zingg, 1935).
These clasts are generally packed tightly with
little matrix (orthoconglomerate), although in
some instances they appear within a red, silty and
5E ~.:
Turbidites
FAN DELTA
Shales (Bottomsets basin)
Alternation of Siltstones and
carbonate mudstones (Foreset beds)
Conglomerates and sandstones
(topset beds)
ALLUVIAt FAN
Red conglomerates with lenses of
sandstones (Stream flow depositsJ
Red sandstones, pebbly sandstones
(Sheetflood deposits)
Red siltstones (Ephemeral flood deposits)
Pre-Miocene rocks (Mainly Upper
Cretaceous carbonate mudstones)
TECTONICALLY CONTROLLED ALLUVIAL FAN WHICH DEVELOPED INTO A MARINE FAN-DELTA
granulose to coarse-grained litharenitic matrix
(paraconglomerate). Lithologically they are com-
posed predominantly of the Upper Cretaceous
white to pink carbonate mudstones with small
amounts of pebbles of the dark-coloured Palaeo-
zoic recrystallized limestones, radiolarian cherts
and various igneous rocks. The igneous rocks in
these pebbles are mostly fine-textured mafic rocks
and serpentinites. The conglomerates do not show
many sedimentary structures other than some
rare planar-type cross-stratification, dipping in a
southerly direction (G6riir, 1977).
The red sandstones of the t~akmak Member
usually occur at the base of the conglomerates,
although they are also frequently found in these
coarse clastics as lenses or interbeds, ranging in
thickness from a few centimetres to fifteen me-
tres (Fig. 4). The red sandstones are calcareous
litharenites with scattered pebbles. They are
well-bedded (20-30 cm thick) and in rare in-
stances cross-bedded and micro cross-laminated.
These sandstones are fine- to medium-grained
and fairly well-sorted with rounded grains of the
Palaeozoic dark-coloured recrystallized lime-
stone, dolomite, green to red radiolarian chert,
plutonic and volcanic rocks, serpentinite and
schist. In contrast to the associated conglomer-
ates, the sandstones contain few grains derived
from the Upper Cretaceous white to pink deep-
water limestones which formed the stratigraphic
basement in the area studied and the immediate
vicinity. This suggests a far-distant Palaeozoic
source for the bulk of these fine-grained sedi-
ments. Small amounts of feldspars and micas also
exist among these lithic grains as accessory min-
erals. All these grains are held together by a
sparry calcite cement, in part together with a
brown and fine-grained matrix.
The siltstones of the t~akmak Member consist
of quartz, chert and calcite grains with some
opaque minerals and carbonaceous material,
floating in a reddish brown clay matrix. Apart
from some local sedimentary structures, such as
thin bedding, lamination and burrowing marked
by infillings of caliche, these sediments appear to
be structureless. They are often interbedded to-
wards the north with the sandstones described
above (Fig. 4).
247
Kabalaktepe Member
Although its environment of deposition was
different, this member has a similar lithology to
the (~akmak Member. It consists of interstratified
and interfingering layers of conglomerates, sand-
stones and siltstones (Fig. 4). The conglomerates
are the dominant rock type which form thick beds
or units, in part with local channelling and cross-
bedding. They are mostly orthoconglomerates
with little or no matrix; when the latter is present,
it consists of poorly sorted quartz, cherts, various
rock fragments, and skeletal grains set in a fine-
grained calcareous mudstone with a calcite ce-
ment. The clasts of the conglomerates are repre-
sented mostly by subrounded to rounded
spheroidal pebbles with lesser amounts of roller
and bladed types. These grains consist, like those
of the (~akmak Member, of the Upper Creta-
ceous white carbonate mudstones with subordi-
nate black and dark brown recrystallized lime-
stones and dolomites of Palaeozoic age, volcanic
rocks, and ophiolitic detritus. Locally, there are
also some fossil fragments among the pebbles,
including coralline red algae, coral, small ben-
thonic foraminifers, echinoderms and molluscs.
In the conglomerates deposited on the Karaisah
platform these fossil fragments sometimes exceed
the lithic pebbles in amount and the rocks appear
to be a coarse skeletal packstone with a few
carbonate lithoclasts. In the northernmost edge
of the platform these conglomerates turn into a
coarse carbonate breccia.
The sandstones of the Kabalaktepe Member
are friable to well-cemented, very fine- to
medium-grained, and carbonaceous lithic aren-
ites. They consist mainly of carbonate lithoclasts,
grains of volcanic and ophiolitic rocks, quartz,
cherts, iddingsites, and feldspars (mainly plagio-
clase) set in a finely to coarsely crystalline sparry
calcite cement. As in the (~akmak Member, the
carbonate lithoclasts again predominate over the
other grains and are represented mainly by the
dark-coloured recrystallized limestones and
dolomites of Palaeozoic age. These sandstones
show in some places fine to thick bedding, cross-
bedding, micro cross-bedding, and burrowing with
scattered bivalve shells.
248 N. GOROR

The siltstones occur generally in the upper

part of the Kabalaktepe Member and are in-
Iaurus Mountains terbedded with 10 to 20 cm thick carbonate mud-
L o c a l source far-dastant stone layers. They are composed of carbonate
lithoclasts, quartz, cherts, some igneous rock frag-
1 °°7 °°N
m
ments, and carbonaceous material enclosed in a
carbonate-rich mud matrix. They display in part
horizontal beds and ripple-laminated sets with
common molluscan shell fragments, and burrows.

Depositional environments of the Giidirli Forma-

tion

The ~akmak Member of the Gildirli Forma-

tion was probably deposited in an alluvial fan
environment as suggested by several lines of evi-
5 dence: typical red colour, poor sorting, generally
coarse grain size with a coarsening-upward char-
acter, composition linked closely to the adjacent
bedrocks, crude bedding, cross-stratification and
channelling, association of conglomerates, sand-
stones and siltstones, absence of fauna, and the
presence of common carbonaceous material in
the red siltstones (Blissenbach, 1954; Potter, 1967;
Goldman, 1968; Fisher and Brown, 1972;
Schumm, 1977; Miall, 1978, 1985, 1988; Collinson,
1978; Rust, 1979; Nilsen, 1982; Blatt et al., 1991).
These lithologic and sedimentological features
show great similarities to those of alluvial fan
deposits described in the literature (i.e. Nilsen,
1973; Ryder et al., 1976; Bluck, 1978; Steel, 1977;
Steel and Aasheim, 1978; Hubert et al., 1978;
Kerr et al., 1979; Martini et al., 1991); its palaeo-

Fig. 5. Schematic diagrams showing tectonic control on allu-

vial fan to fan-delta deposition of the Gildirli Formation and
associated sediments, a, b, c. lnterstratification and interfin-
gering of the proximal and distal fan facies of the (~akmak
Member with an overall progradational sequence during the
recurrent activity of the northern boundary fault, d, e. Devel-
opment of the retrogradational fan-delta sequence of the
Kabalaktepe Member in a relatively rapidly deepening Early
Miocene sea. In e, the turbidite lenses in the open-marine
Giiven~j shales represent the Cing6z Formation. 1 = pre-
Miocene basement; 2 = continental conglomerates ((~akmak
Member); 3 = sandstones and siltstones; 4 = shallow-marine
conglomerates (Kabalaktepe Member); 5 = limestones
(Karaisah reef on the Karaisah platform); 6 = open-marine
1 2 3 4 5 6 shales (K6pekli shales and the Gfiven~ Formation).
T E C T O N I C A L L Y C O N T R O L L E D A L L U V I A L FAN W HI CH D E V E L O P E D I N T O A M A R I N E F A N - D E L T A
geographic setting along the faulted-mountain
front of the Taurus range is also consistent with
an alluvial fan model (Mack and Rasmussen,
1984; Nemec and Steel, 1988).
The (~akmak Member was deposited during
the Burdigalian "to Serravallian as an alluvial fan
in the Karaisall embayment (Fig. 5a). Its internal
geometry is relatively simple and records both
interstratification and interfingering of the
coarse-grained proximal and the fine-grained dis-
tal fan facies with an overall progradational se-
quence (Fig. 4). This stratigraphic development
together with the difference in the lithologic com-
position of the constituents in these facies, may
indicate an intermittent fault activity to the north,
along the mountainous margin of the Adana Basin
(Figs. 5a-5c). When faulting was active, an in-
crease in relief was created between the moun-
tain front and the depositional site. This in-
creased relief would have caused a rapid denuda-
tion which provided coarse pebbles and boulders
of the Upper Cretaceous carbonate mudstones
exposed on the footwall. During periods of inac-
tivity, the conglomerate deposition gave way to
the accumulation of the fine-grained sediments
which were probably carried in from a relatively
far-distant source in the hinterlands of the Tau-
rus Mountains where the Palaeozoic carbonates
and the other pre-Miocene rocks were widely
exposed. The reasons why the Upper Cretaceous
carbonate mudstones did not produce much sand
and silt-size material during the fault activity are
perhaps because of the fine texture of the rock,
the wide spacing of the joints (Nilsen, 1982), and
the beginning development of a widespread karst
topography that inhibited surface drainage and
generated numerous sediment traps in the form
of dolinas and rare karst pits in the area (cf.
~eng6r, 1975). Moreover, a dense vegetation on
the uplifted block of the fault may have further
reduced erosion and thus contributed to the
scarcity of the fine grains. The presence of the
carbonaceous material, perhaps derived from the
vegetation, in the fine-grained sediments of the
t~akmak Member supports this interpretation.
The conglomerates in the (~akmak Member
were probably deposited as stream flow deposits.
Their coarse grain size, poor sorting, clast-sup-
249
ported texture, poor horizontal bedding with oc-
casional planar-type cross-stratification, and up-
ward-fining sequence support this interpretation
(Reineck and Singh, 1975; Miall, 1978; Nilsen,
1982; Blatt et al., 1991). The abundance of the
subrounded to rounded pebbles in these rocks
indicates that they perhaps accumulated mainly
in the downfan areas as the roundness generally
increases downfan owing to more clast-to-clast
collisions. The scarcity of the channelling in the
conglomerates may also be attributed to such a
location on the fan, because in most of the an-
cient and modern alluvial fans, the stream flow
deposits on the distal fan areas appear to be
non-channelized or less channelized (Nilsen,
1982). Therefore, the study area seems to have
formed the outer-fan part of the Early Miocene
t~akmak Fan.
The lithologic characteristics and their strati-
graphic relation with the fan conglomerates (Fig.
4) suggest that the sandstones and siltstones of
the (~akmak Member were deposited on more
distal outer-fan or fan-fringe areas, although they
overstepped the conglomerates during the tec-
tonic quiescence. The fairly well-sorted and well-
bedded arenitic sandstones with their parallel-
and cross-stratifications probably formed as
sheetflood deposits accumulated by the flows
emerging from shallow and wide channels of this
lower fan region. The locally thinly bedded to
laminated siltstones were most likely deposited
during the waning stage of ephemeral water
flooding on the outer fan when the competence
was sufficient to transport only silt and clay.
In the Burdigalian, during the deposition of
the alluvial fan sediments, a rapidly rising sea
transgressed the study area from the south,
drowning the lower portions of the alluvial fan
(Fig. 5d) and initiating in the Karaisah embay-
ment fan-delta deposition (Galloway, 1976; Sneh,
1979; Squires, 1981; Sailer and Dickinson, 1982;
Nemec and Steel, 1988; Heward, 1978; Martini et
al., 1991) of the Kabalaktepe Member. The topset
beds of this delta were formed by the cross-be-
dded conglomerates and the sandstones, whereas
the foreset beds are represented by the interlay-
ered siltstones and carbonate mudstones of this
member. The bottomsets included the calcareous
250
BURDIGALIAN tLANG. ISERRAVALLIAN
2O , 1,S , , , q~.
Om. ,
--_-
-_-_-
~: 500 -_-_-
_==E_ Cingdz E
z
IE -_~_-
1000
q tion of the Adana Basin, Turkey, represents, in
uJ
~J 1500
~ "-Pre-Miocene
Fig. 6. Burdigalian to Serravallian burial history diagram for
the northern margin of the Adana Basin. Data from Gazelli-I
well, approx. 50 km northeast of Karaisah (N. Yal~m, pers.
commun., 1992).Compaction is not considered.
and carbonaceous K6pekli shales, rich in glo-
bigerinids, gastropods, and molluscs. The alterna-
tion of the siltstones and the carbonate mud-
stones in the delta front is basically an indication
of a changing current intensity within this envi-
ronment; the ripple-laminated siltstones were
probably laid down during relatively weak current
activity. When this current activity, and conse-
quently, the silt transport ceased, slack water
sedimentation and the accumulation of carbonate
mudstones occurred.
In contrast to a typical progradational deltaic
sequence, the Kabalaktepe fan-delta formed a
retrogradational sequence, i.e. the foreset beds
overlie the topset (Fig. 5e) (Steel and Aasheim,
1978; Sneh, 1979). This was the result of the
rapid rise in the Early Miocene sea-level in the
area studied. This rise was most probably caused
by the likely extensional subsidence of the deposi-
tional site (Fig. 6), due to the activities of the
northern boundary-fault, because only a rise of
short duration in the world-wide sea-level took
place during the deposition of these clastics (Haq
et al., 1988).
The conglomerates of the Kabalaktepe Mem-
ber on the Karaisall platform were probably de-
posited in a beach or nearshore environment as
N.GOROR
indicated by their sheet-like geometry, fossil con-
---~TIME
tent, and the close association with the overlying
reefal limestone of the Karaisah Formation. This
reef developed coevally with the fan-delta deposi-
tion and provided from time to time abundant
coarse biogenic detritus to its depositional site
(G6riir, 1979).
Conclusions
The Burdigalian-Serravallian Gildirli Forma-
K6pekli
Sholes the Karaisah embayment, a basal alluvial fan
(t~akmak Member) grading upward into a fan-
Gildirli E
delta (Kabalaktepe Member) with a retrograda-
tional sequence. Petrographic studies indicate
rocks
that the conglomerates in these sediments have a
different provenance from the sandstones. This
observation has regional palaeogeographic and
palaeotectonic implications. The Taurus Moun-
tains in the north of the Adana Basin served
probably as the main source for these sediments,
the basin side of which must have been defined,
at least to the north of the area studied, by an
active fault operating episodically throughout the
Early Miocene and influencing the sedimentation
in the neighbouring areas during this time inter-
val. Unfortunately, the Gildirli data do not shed
light on the nature of movement on this northern
boundary-fault as to whether the movement was
dominantly dip-slip or strike-slip. However, the
coarse detritus in this formation was most likely
derived during its activity from the nearby expo-
sures of the Upper Cretaceous limestones under-
lying this faulted-mountain front, whereas the
fine-grained sediments must have been brought
in during the inactivity from a relatively far-dis-
tant source in the hinterlands of the Taurus
Mountains where the Palaeozoic carbonates and
the Mesozoic ophiolites were exposed. Before the
Early Miocene transgression, all these sediments
were laid down in the Karaisah embayment as
parts of an alluvial fan; when the sea transgressed
over the area, they formed a fan-delta with textu-
ral characteristics and sedimentary structures
similar to those exhibited by an alluvial fan. The
fan-delta quickly developed a retrogradational se-
quence because of the rapid deepening of the
TECTONICALLY CONTROLLED ALLUVIAL FAN WHICH DEVELOPED INTO A MARINE FAN-DELTA
depositional area. This deepening was most prob-
ably due to faulting rather than to a global rise in
sea-level because, except for a short-term rise at
the beginning of the Burdigalian, the world-wide
sea-level curve shows a general regressive trend
during Burdigalian to Serravallian times (Haq et
al., 1988).
This study thus shows the importance of the
tectonics/sedimentation interplay in complexly
structured environments. Even such seemingly
simple sedimentological edifices like an alluvial
fan/delta complex may hide within them a record
of tectonics/eustasy relationship that should not
be forced into the stereotype straightjackets of a
Vail-type stratigraphy that may grossly mislead
the regional geologist.
Acknowledgements
This paper forms contribution No. 3 of the
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mines,
Department of Geology, Global Tectonic Re-
search Unit (GloTek) supported by TLIBiTAK.
I thank Walter C. Pitman, III and A.M. Celal
~eng6r for critical reading of the manuscript. I
would also like to thank Dr. Remzi Akk6k and
Mr. Serdar Engin for their kind help and assis-
tance in drafting of the figures.
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