Depositional setting and geometric structure of the Beypazari lignite deposits, Central Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract

The Neogene Beypazari basin is one of the important coal districts of Central Anatolia with approximately 600 million short tons lignite reserves. The coal-bearing Neogene sediments occurring in the Beypazari basin are divided into seven formations, in ascending order; Çoraklar, Hirka, Akpinar, Çayirhan, Bozbelen and Kirmir Formations with Sariyar Limestone and Teke volcanics. The Çoraklar Formation consists of cross-bedded sandstones, channel-fill conglomerates, mudstones, carbonaceous shales and volcanoclastic pebblestones, which are fluvial in origin. The lower lignite seam occurs in the lower part of the Çoraklar Formation. The upper lignite seam occurs in the uppermost part of the Çoraklar Formation and is overlain by the Hirka Formation with a sharp contact. The Hirka Formation consists mainly of alternating shale, mudstone, bituminous shale, claystone, tuffite and silicified limestone, and they all are apparently of lacustrine origin. The lignite deposite occur in the Çayirhan and Koyunaǧili parts of the Beypazari Neogene basin. The Çayirhan coal field consists of lower and upper lignite seams, but the Koyunaǧili field contains only an upper lignite seam. The lower lignite seam, which does not crop out at the surface, indicates a fluvial origin of the lignite deposits, based on the lateral discontinuity and the lower sulphur content of the lower lignite seam, and the sedimentologic and stratigraphic features of the associated sediments. But the uniform stratigraphic and sedimentologic features, high sulphur content and wide-spread distribution of the upper lignite seam indicate that the upper lignites were deposited probably in a mud-flat facies of playa-lake environment. The lower and upper lignites are completely different in relation to the depositional environment, the geometry and degree of rank in lateral directions. The lateral spreading and geometry of the lower lignite deposits were controlled by channel, floodplain and well-drained marshes of a fluvial system. On the basis of recent drillings and field investigations, the lower lignite deposit has been demonstrated to be a linear spreading parallel to the axis of the channel fills and throughcross beds in clastic sediments of fluvial facies. Therefore, the lower lignite deposits trend along a northeastern direction and is not expected to be as widely spread as the upper lignites.