Research-paper
Microfaunal biostratigraphy of Cenozoic sequences from the Misis-Andirin area, Southern Turkey
Gökçen, Nuran; Gökçen, Sungu L.; Kelling, Gilbert
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Abstract
The Misis Complex form parts of a NE-SW trending zone of deformation within the Cukurova Basin, a major Neogene trough in southern Turkey. This tectonic high, separating the Adana and Iskenderun sub-basins, was created during the early stages of Arabian/Anatolian continental collision. The stratigraphic succession within the Misis Complex commences with a major olistostromic unit (1-2 km thick), formed prior to the late Oligocene basal Miocene and tectonically emplaced upon younger Miocene sediments during local early Pliocene deformation. The succeeding Miocene units comprise up to 4 km of mixed siliciclastic and carbonate-rich clastics, deposited in a variety of deep marine, shelf and coastal environments but displaying an overall upwards-shoaling character. Microfaunas (mainly foraminifers and ostracods) have been extracted from more than 300 samples collected from 7 logged sequences encompassing the Misis Neogene succession. Eight "local" foraminiferal biozones have been designated. These are readily correlated with the standard Neogene zonation of BLOW (1969) and with zonal schemes erected elsewhere in the Mediterranean area, although some minor differences have been recognised and are attributed to local tectonism. The new biostratigraphic data presented here have led to significant refinement of the stratigraphy of a region critical to our understanding of eastern Mediterranean geotectonic evolution and have contributed crucially to a radical reassessment of the structural style and palaeoenvironmental evolution of the Misis Complex.