Sediment Core Studies on The North Anatolian Fault Zone in The Eastern Sea Of Marmara: Evidence of Sea Level Changes And Fault Activity

Year 2010, Volume: 140 Issue: 140, 1 - 18, 01.09.2010

Erol Sarı , Namık Çağatay

Abstract

Sediment cores BUC-10A and İZ-30 located on the North Anatolian Fault
Zone (NAFZ), 12 km south of Büyükçekmece and İzmit Gulf in the eastern part of
the Sea of Marmara, respectively, were studied to investigate tectonics and
paleo-oceanographic processes, using sedimentological and geochemical methods.
Total inorganic carbon (TIC as total calcium carbonate) and total organic
carbon (TOC) contents in core BUC-10A range between 12.1-34.3 and 0.5-4.1 dry
wt. %, respectively. The organic matter-rich sapropel unit was identified
between 1.60 and 2.43 m below sea floor (bsf) in this core. The concentration
ranges of the metals in core BUC-10A were: Cr: 55-96, Cu: 21-37, Ni: 63 39-74,
Mn: 345-693, Pb: 19-34, Zn: 79-143 ppm and Fe: 2.30-3.15 dry wt. %. The concentration
ranges of TOC, TIC, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Mn, Pb and Zn in core İZ-30 were 0.40-1.70
%, 0.25-31%, 39-87 ppm, 13-32 ppm, %2.10-4.80, 18-41 ppm, 315-528 ppm, 7-21 ppm
and 78-185 ppm, respectively. Chalcophile element (Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, and Zn)
concentrations in cores İZ-30 and BUC-10A give no evidence of hydrothermal
activity. A debris flow characterized in core İZ-30 and dated 3276±48 a
(calendar) before present (BP) was most likely triggered by tectonic activity
in the İzmit Gulf. Sediments of 49.5 mbsf palaeoshoreline dated 9364±64 a BP
was also identified in the same core from the İzmit Gulf. 

Keywords

Sea of Marmara, Sea level change, North Anatolian Fault, hydrothermal activity, submarine mass flow

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