Abstract:

In this paper we report for the Hatay Graben, new micropalaeotology, the first strontium dating and new sedimentology. The previous lack of a modern systematic stratigraphy was problematic for the study of the Hatay region. With the new data combined with the existing literature we evaluate and redefine the lithostratigraphy following international standards. The focus of this paper is on the Neogene cover rocks that record the transition from a regional carbonate shelf environment during Palaeocene to Eocene times, through late-stage continental collision, to recent continental rift tectonics that were initiated in the Middle Miocene and continue to operate to the present-day. The Eocene-Pliocene sedimentary cover of the Hatay Graben is here divided into six formations and one member; Samandağı Formation (Pliocene), Vakıkflı Member (Messinian), Nurzeytin Formation (Serravalian-Tortonian, ~13.2-8.6 Ma), Sofular Formation (Burdigalian-Langian), Balyatağı Formation (Aquitanian-Burdigalian), Kışlak Formation (Eocene), and Okçular Formation (Eocene). Similar sediments of the Karasu Rift are termed the Gökdere Formation (Tortonian-Messinian), Kepez Formation (Langian), Kıcı Formation (Burdigalian), and Hacıdağı Formation (Palaeocene-Eocene). A brief interpretation of the stratigraphical relationships is also given.

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