Abstract
Sıcak Çermik (Sivas) is an important geothermal and recent travertine formation area in Central Anatolia. The majority of travertines found in the region comprise fissure-ridge type travertines according to morphological classification. At the location called Tepe Çermik within the travertine area, fill containing fossil bone fragments of Equus sp., Bovidae and other abundant animals formed within the fracture axis of a N–S striking fissure-ridge travertine developed under control of tectonic forces. The finds of these fossils in fissure-ridge travertines linked to tectonic forces indicates formation of a unique fossil environment created under the control of these forces. The Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Radiocarbon Dating analyses of fossils from the study area determined the fills were older than 43,000 years. The U/Th age of a sample from the most recently-formed banded travertine in the axis of the fracture was identified as 278,540 ± 18,436 years. As a result, the ages of fossils found within this fill are thought to be between 43,000 and 278,540 ± 18,436 years old. The high amount of perissodactyla and artiodactyla fossils found within fill in the axis of the fissure-ridge travertine probably indicates the presence of hominids who chose the region for hunting or settlement. The Equus sp. and Bovidae fossil samples found in the axis of the fracture indicate that in the dry and cold glacial period the paleogeography in a large portion of Anatolia comprised desert-like steppe.
Highlights
Travertine and tufa are CaCO3 compounds deposited by both chemical and biochemical routes in hot or cold water springs and are rock types intensely studied in different disciplines of the earth sciences
The U/ Th age results show the gap in the fracture axis began to form before 278 thousand years ago, while Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Radiocarbon Dating (AMS) analysis shows that fossil traces are older than 43 thousand years
Fissure-ridge travertines are geological formations frequently used in recent years for tectonic-active tectonic research due to structural data they contain
Summary
Travertine and tufa are CaCO3 compounds deposited by both chemical and biochemical routes in hot or cold water springs and are rock types intensely studied in different disciplines of the earth sciences. Abundant fossilized remains of plants, leaves and a variety of organisms living near the depositional environment are observed (Pentecost, 2005) Apart from these fossils that are not very important in terms of geology and anthropology due to having young ages and not carrying characteristic fossil qualities, Kappelman et al (2008) discovered a Homo Erectus skull fossil in a travertine quarry in Denizli (Kocabaş). The formation of fossils along an axis of a fracture that continues to open despite the cessation of hydrothermal activity is unique both in the geological literature and the studied region For this reason, the fossil finds in Sıcak Çermik fissure-ridge type travertines are very important, especially in terms of structural geology, paleontology and anthropology. An additional aim was to reveal the relationship between fossilization in the fissure ridge-type travertines and travertine deposition
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