This paper deals with modern and ancient sedimentation in fresh water lakes and the marine shelf of the southern Marmara region, NW Anatolia, Turkey. Most of the information has been obtained from monitoring of suspended load discharged into two lakes (Manyas and Ulubat) in the last 45 years and from 8-11 m thick lacustrine sediments, in addition to radiocarbon-dated shelf sediments. This allows a holistic approach to the drainage basin denudation over time. The results show that the sedimentation rates in the lakes were low 0. 22 cm.yr -1 , from 4000-2000 yr BP and then they increased (0.29 cm.yr -1 ) up to sub-recent times and reached 0.44 cm.yr -1 in the last century. It is suggested that deforestation created high rates of sedimentation in the basins and/or strong denudation of the region during the LateHolocene. This study also shows that for shallow freshwater lakes the calculation of sedimentation rates must include fine particles lost by the outlets and coarse-grained bed load deposited on their shores. In addition, a high rate of sedimentation has been created by short, but repetitive intense depositions. During the last century particularly during the last 45 years the rate of sedimentation or denudation has increased dramatically in NW Turkey. The two World Wars and mismanagement of the land had important local effects by increasing deforestation and resulting in the present erosive conditions.--

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The south-southwestern Caspian coastal lowland in Iran, or the Gilan-Mazenderan plain, is a relatively narrow but long, composite depositional area of late Quaternary age. The Sefid Rud delta, the Anzali Lake (connected to the Caspian Sea by a meandering outlet 3.5 km long) and storm-dominated beaches are its prominent sedimentary features. They are controlled by the present water level of the Caspian Sea at -26.36 m in 2000. The Late Pleistocene-Holocene deposits of the lowland, which are covered commonly by a modern loess-origin soil, mainly consist of alternations of marine and non-marine sediments. The marine units form coastal terraces at 19-20 m (I), 2-0 m (II) and -6/-8 m (III) corresponing to the Late Khvalinian and Neocaspian transgressions. The deposits of the youngest terrace (terrace III) that represents a prograding beach-ridge complex are a consequence of several medium-term, cyclic water level oscillations in Late Holocene. Just after the initiation of the beach-ridge complex, Lake Anzali formed by damming of rivers and then by progradation of the complex in time forced to form the outlet of the lake. The nearest medium-term cycle lasted c. 65 years between 1930-1995 and the records showed that it included a lot of shortterm (c. 4-5 yrs) and very short-term (week to months) water level oscillations. During the last erratic rise of sea level (1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996), the area of Lake Anzali doubled; the delta and the coastal sands including modern beaches were eroded on c. 30-100 m. Overall, a step-like morphology, repetition of marine and non-marine facies and also water level records of the last 75 years indicate that the ancient and recent deposition on the coastal lowland has been controlled by long-medium-and short-term fluctuations of the Caspian Sea level.

Freshwater Lake Ulubat (c. 1.5

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