Growth of fissure ridge travertines from geothermal springs of Denizli Basin, western Turkey

Abstract

"""Fissure ridge travertines grown from geothermal springs of Denizli basin, southwestern Turkey, are investigated through stratigraphic, structural, geochemical, and geochronological methods, with the aim of understanding the growth of these elongate mound-shaped structures. Two main types of travertine deposits are recognized: (1) bedded travertines, which grew as flowstone on sloping surfaces and form the bulk of fissure ridges, and (2) banded travertines, which grew as veins within the bedded travertine chiefly along its central feeding conduit. Stratigraphic and structural observations shed light on the bedded-banded travertine relationships, where the banded features grew through successive accretion phases, cross-cutting the bedded travertine or forming sill-like structures. The bedded and banded travertines alternated their growth as demonstrated by complicated cross-cutting relationships and by the upward suture, in places, of banded travertine by bedded travertine that was, in turn, cross-cut by younger banded travertine. The bedded travertine is often tilted away from the central axis of the fissure ridge, thus leaving more room for the central banded travertine to form. U-series ages confirm the bedded-banded travertine temporal relationships and show that the growth of the studied fissure ridges lasted up to several tens of ka during Quaternary time. The banded travertine deposited mainly during cold-dry events possibly in coincidence with seismic events that might have triggered the outflow of deep geothermal fluids. C and O stable isotope and REE data indicate a shallow feeding circuit for the studied structures with a fluid component deriving from a deeper geothermal circuit. A crack-and-seal mechanism of fissure ridge growth is proposed, modulated by the interplay of local and regional influencing factors and mechanisms such as geothermal fluid discharge, paleoclimate, tectonics, and the progressive tilting of bedded travertine limbs over a soft substratum creating the necessary space for the central veins to grow.""

Comparative study of the Pleistocene Cakmak quarry (Denizli Basin, Turkey) and modern Mammoth Hot Springs deposits (Yellowstone National Park, USA)

“…It is a seismically active, fault-bounded graben structure as a result of post-Middle Miocene rollback subduction of the North African oceanic crust below the Anatolian plate (Westaway, 1993). The Ballık area is situated on the northern flank of the Denizli graben flank and is part of an extensive system of ancient to modern (see Pamukkale travertine e UNESCO World Heritage; Simsek et al, 2000) carbonate spring deposits scattered over a total area of about 10e14 km in width and 50 km in length (De Filippis et al, 2012;. The Ballık region is bounded to the north by the south-dipping prolongations of the Cal and Baklan normal faults and in the south by the north-dipping Kaklık fault (Fig.…”

“…5B, C), one of the few previously unstudied and best-exposed active quarries in the "domal" area of Ballık and representative of the different facies underlying and building up the domal structures. Several other quarries, both on the northern and southern flank of the Denizli Basin, have been studied from a sedimentological, diagenetic, geochemical or dating perspective ( € Ozkul et al, 2010Kele et al, 2011;De Filippis et al, 2012;Claes et al, 2015;Lopez et al, in press). Two adjacent quarries in the "domal" area, Faber and Ece were investigated, sampled and mapped by Claes et al (2015) with the goal to develop a threedimensional geobody model (Fig.…”

“…the Subhorizontal, Reed, Cascade and Waterfall Facies, are a basis for travertine reservoir rock types. Currently, different approaches and terminology exist to describe the travertine depositional fabrics and facies in the Denizli Basin ( € Ozkul et al, 2010Kele et al, 2011;De Filippis et al, 2012;Claes et al, 2015;Lopez et al, in press). This study builds on this extensive and detailed description of fabrics, especially those carried out in the nearby quarries.…”

“…Despite different reviews about continental carbonate spring facies and fabrics (Guo and Riding, 1998;Chafetz and Guidry, 2003;Pentecost, 2005;De Filippis et al, 2012;Capezzuoli et al, 2014;Della Porta, 2015), some of the most extensive sites of modern and ancient travertine deposition have never been compared. Hence, an integrated and comparative travertine depositional facies model based on spatial and quantitative mapping (at meter to kilometer length scales) of different, key travertine systems does not exist.…”

Travertine occurrences along major strike-slip fault zones: structural, depositional and geochemical constraints from the Eastern Anatolian Fault System (EAFS), Turkey

“…normal faulting and fracturing) and transtensional tectonic regimes (Altunel & Hancock, 1993a, 1993bAltunel & Karabacak, 2005;Brogi & Capezzuoli, 2009;Çakır, 1999;De Filippis et al, 2012;Faccenna et al, 2008;Hancock et al, 1999;Mesci, 2013). Faults and fracture network in these settings play an important role in the circulation and upwelling of hydrothermal fluids Brogi, 2004;Brogi & Capezzuoli, 2009;Faccenna et al, 2008;Uysal et al, 2007).…”