Effects of PETM in SouthWestern Anatolia: preliminarily results

Paleocene - early Eocene units within the Isparta Bend where located in the west of the Taurus mountain belt consist of reddish-gray micritic limestones, silty mudstones, mudstones and sandstones. The sediments in question contain a late Tantian (NP9 according to Martini 1971 Nannoplankton zoning) aged nannofossil assemblage. In the samples taken from these sediments, many nannofossil species belonging to the Discoaster and Fasciculithus genera, which have oligotrophic hot environmental conditions, were identified. In the quantitative analyses made on the nanofossil contents of the samples taken from the study area, the abundance of species belonging to the Discoaster and Fasciculithus genera shows remarkable increases at upper levels. This situation can be interpreted as a change in oligotrophic-hot environmental conditions. This possibly be an indication of an increase in sea surface water temperature within the early PETM, possibly in the period just before the Paleocene-Eocene transition, which corresponds to the NP9-NP10 boundary in nannoplankton biozonation. The samples taken from the corresponding sediments on these samples contain nannofossil assemblages (Clausicoccus norrisii Bown & Newsam, Sphenolithus radians Deflandre, Ellipsolithus macellus (Bramlette & Sullivan)) giving an early Ypresian age (NP11). According to the results of the quantitative analysis, the diversity of nannofossil species and A significant decrease in the number of species has been observed, and Fasciculithus species are also very rare. This may be signs that the environmental conditions that existed in the late Thanetian changed greatly in the early Ypresian. Planktonic foraminifera, oxygen isotope and carbon isotope analyses in the samples continuing.