Reconstructing the sedimentary evolution of the Miocene Aksu Basin based on fan delta development (eastern Mediterranean-Turkey)

Abstract

IntroductionFan deltas (FDs) are gravel-rich deltas formed where an alluvial fan is deposited directly into a standing body of water from an adjacent highland (McPerson et al., 1987). Their subaerial components correspond to steep alluvial fans that are mainly composed of interbedded sheetflood, debris-flow, and braided-channel deposits (Nemec and Steel, 1988). FDs often show changing paleocurrent directions and abrupt facies changes in the geological record. Their deposits are often very coarse-grained (with occasional large boulders) and very poorly sorted, and reef bodies might develop in their subaqueous parts (Tucker and Wright, 1990).Several alluvial fan and FD sequences originating from the southern Tauride Mountain Range have been previously described in Turkey. Examples from the Kasaba Basin (Hayward and Robertson, 1982) and Çatallar Basin (Koşun et al., 2009) from the southwestern Taurides are well known. Other important alluvial fan-FD complexes are observed in the Miocene Antalya Basins (