Foraminifera, Radiolaria and Conodont assemblages from the Early Mississipian (late Tournaisian)/Early Pennsylvanian (early Bashkirian) blocks within the Mersin Mélange, southern Turkey: Biochronological and paleogeographical implications

Abstract

The Mersin Mélange, a sedimentary complex in southern Turkey, includes blocks of various origins within a Late Cretaceous matrix. Two blocks in the Mersin Mélange are herein recognized to be of Carboniferous age. One block (the Kozan Block) is composed of alternating chert and mudstone, and includes radiolarian and conodont assemblages revealing a late Tournaisian (Early Mississippian) age. The other (Keven-West Block) consists of platform carbonate containing abundant foraminifera indicating Bashkirian (Early Pennsylvanian) age. These dates are so far the oldest obtained from the blocks within the Mersin Mélange. A correlation of the lithostratigraphies of blocks in the Mersin Mélange with the coeval Tauride sequences indicates that they correspond to the successions in the Beysehir-Hoyran Nappes. In these nappes, the late Tournaisian is characterized by radiolarian rich chert and mudstone of an open marine environment, whereas the Bashkirian succession represents a shallow water environment with Foraminifera-bearing limestone. The Tournaisian deepening can be ascribed to the opening of a deep marginal basin to the north of the Tauride Platform and uplifting of the northern Tauride-Anatolide Platform margin during the Late Mississippian and Early Pennsylvanian.A shallowing upward sequence started in the Tournaisian with a pelagic sequence followed by platform carbonates of Bashkirian age in the Beysehir-Hoyran Nappes, and could be related to a major glaciation event during late Visean–Serpukhovian resulting in a sea-level drop and deposition of platform carbonates in the Bashkirian. Given the stratigraphic properties of northerly originated nappe packages (Cataloturan, Hadim and Bolkardag) and parautochthonous/autochthonous sequences in Taurides, sedimentation on the Tauride-Anatolide Platform mainly terminated after the Moscovian, except in the Hadim Nappe with sedimentation in a very shallow sea conditions until the end of the Permian. A depositional break corresponding to the Kasimovian–Wordian time interval in these sequences in the Tauride-Anatolide Platform could be related to the effects of both late Paleozoic Gondwanan glaciation and a possible mantle plume occurrence evidenced by the geochemistry of lavas in the Mersin Mélange causing major uplift in the Northern NeoTehys Ocean. However; at the center of the plume, pelagic sequences (e.g., ribbon chert and pelagic limestone) were deposited associated with these lavas due to a progressive developing rift system during the Permian, based on previous studies.