Dr İzzet Hoşgör

The upper Coniacian to upper Santonian drowned Arabian carbonate platform, the Mardin-Mazidag area, SE Turkey: Sedimentological, stratigraphic, and ichthyofaunal recordsOriginal Research Article
In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 22 September 2017
Ismail O. Yilmaz, Todd D. Cook, I. Hosgor, M. Wagreich, Katherine Rebman, Alison M. Murray

A measured stratigraphic section including the upper Coniacian – upper Santonian interval in the Mardin-Mazidag area in Southeastern Turkey lies on the Arabian Platform and documents the drowning of the Arabian platform. The studied succession transgressively overlies the exposed carbonate platform and exhibits a relatively condensed sequence characterized by presence of fish remains, phosphate nodules, oncoids, phosphatic fragments, glauconites and planktonic foraminifera. Calcareous nannofossils attest a late Coniacian to late Santonian age (zones UC11 single bond UC12). Numerous elasmobranch teeth are also present in this pelagic facies, representing mackerel sharks (Squalicorax, Pseudocorax and Scapanorhynchus) and a ray (Ctenopristis). The presence of pelagic facies and phosphate deposits on the drowned platform may indicate a sudden rise of sea level and increase of nutrient due to upwelling currents. The collapse parts of the Arabian carbonate platform occurred earlier than previously reported, starting from late Coniacian-Santonian onwards.

A new brachiopod species, Westonia mardini, from the Furongian of Turkey and a new occurrence of Westonia urbiona from the Cambrian Series 3 of Iberian Peninsula are reported. These new finds of ‘westoniids’ collected in Gondwana allow the discussion of the functional morphology of their terrace ridges. This structure enabled an effective and rapid reburrowing and allowed the occupation of the shallow marine unstable sands and silts in the shoreface environments. This burrowing mechanism, with their pedicle directed downwards, was unknown before the Cambrian Series 2 and was abandoned chiefly in the Early Ordovician. Here we also review the distribution of ‘westoniids’ in space and time to analyse the diversification, decline and replacement of this important group of brachiopods. They became a significant part of the semi-infaunal marine associations beginning with the Cambrian Series 2 and proliferated in shallow arenaceous shelves during the Cambrian Series 3 and during the Furongian in most palaeocontinents. The acme of ‘Westoniid’ obolids associations was in the Furongian, but locally relict associations were present in high-latitude Gondwana until the Tremadocian. Decline of westoniid associations began during the Tremadocian, being replaced by very diverse smooth-shelled obolid associations with a novel burrowing mechanism and deeper lifestyle.

YILMAZ, I.O., ALTINER, D., HOŞGÖR, I., MÜLAYIM, O., 2015. ANALYSIS OF SEA LEVEL CHANGE RECORDS ON THE CRETACEOUS CARBONATE PLATFORMS (ARABIAN AND TAURIDE PLATFORMS TURKEY): COOPERATION OF CLIMATIC AND TECTONIC FACTORS./ International Workshop on Climate and Environmental Evolution in the Mesozoic Greenhouse World and 3rd IGCP 609. Workshop on Cretaceous Sea-Level Change, Nanjing, 5-11 September 2015

Two new sections of the Eastern Taurides, Turkey, have yielded brachiopods and crinoids of middle-late Devonian. 15 brachiopod species, among them two are new (Paillettia menae n.sp. and Eodmitria sezgini n. sp.) and 3 crinoid species have been identified. An Upper Givetian to Lower Frasnian age has been established for these sections after the brachiopods, when crinoids rather indicate a Late Givetian age. This fossil assemblage reflects strong affinities with Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan domains.

Permian and Triassic tetrapods are very rare in Turkey. Yet this group bears importantpaleoenvironmental and paleogeographical signals to better understand Pangean models,and especially the geodynamic history of the Permian and Triassic in Turkey, which remainshighly debated. Here we present and describe the first temnospondyls from Turkey (SE Ana-tolia) which consist of a Middle Permian branchiosaurid and an Early Triassic stereospondyl.The branchiosaurid is the first representative of its group in Gondwana and the first fromthe Middle Permian: it therefore brings important paleogeographic implications and sup-ports the hypothesis that anamniotic tetrapods may have used trans-Pangean migrationroutes between Europe and Gondwana. It also brings new data to the debated depositionalenvironment of the Permian of SE Anatolia. The Triassic stereospondyl represents one ofthe few tetrapods known from paleoequatorial areas and confirms a relatively rapid faunalturnover of the anamniotic fauna after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction.

The Rheic Ocean was a major oceanic domain between Baltica, Laurentia, Perunica andGondwana in Ordovician-Silurian times. The cosmopolitan nepiomorphian bivalves Prae-cardioidei Newell, 1965 and Antipleuroidei Kˇríˇz, 2007 are characteristic of the Silurianof Perunica, peri-Gondwana, and Baltica, and occur also in Laurentia and Siberia. TheBohemian-type bivalve Cardiolinka Kˇríˇz, 1981 (Nepiomorphia Kˇríˇz, 2007, CardiolidaeHoernes, 1884), from the Late Silurian of the Bahar-1 well core, has been found for thefirst time in southeastern Turkey. The strata containing the species Cardiolinka bohem-ica (Barrande, 1881) occur in the middle part of the Dadas¸ Formation in the interiorPetroleum District X-Siirt of the northern parts of the Arabian Plate. The cosmopolitanspecies C. bohemica was until now known from the Latest Ludlow to Pridoli of the PragueBasin, France, Carnic Alps, Sardinia, East European Platform (Poland), eastern Serbia, Moe-sian Platform, and Arctic Canada. The new surprising subsurface data on C. bohemica inDiyarbakır-Bismil area (southeastern Turkey) therefore represent another piece of evidencein favour of strong faunistic affinity between Perunica, peri-Gondwanan Europe and thenorthern Gondwana margin.

The Köprülü Formation of the Hakkari area (SE Turkey) is composed of a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic succession of Early Carboniferous age. The lower part of the formation yielded an abundant but poorly diversified coral fauna composed of small non-dissepimented solitary rugose corals, namely Rotiphyllum cf. simulatumFedorowski 2009, Zaphrentites parallela (Carruthers, 1910), cf. Gorizdronia, gen. et sp. indet., Amplexizaphrentis sp. and Amplexizaphrentis zapense sp. nov. and specimens of Caninia cf. cornucopiaeMichelin in Gervais 1840, a dissepimented solitary coral showing a counter septum-related columella. The lower part of the Köprülü Formation is of supposed late Tournaisian age based on micropaleontological data. However, the coral assemblage indicates rather an early Viséan age. The Hakkari corals form a strongly facies-related association (“Cyathaxonia fauna”) and are compared to other areas with some difficulties. The most similar, time-equivalent faunal associations is that of the Sinai Peninsula (NE Egypt). Both localities belonged, during Early Carboniferous times, to the Arabian Platform situated along the northern margin of Gondwana. The Gondwana-related Taurides units (Aladağ), North Iran Block and Afghanistan, characterized by a dominant carbonate facies and more diversified coral faunas, formed during these times, the distal parts of the Arabian Platform.

Two fossil fish were recently recovered from late Miocene freshwater deposits of the Mus¸ Basin in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. This area is in the collision zone of the Afro-Arabian and Eurasian plates, and therefore is a biogeographic contact zone or ecotone, where different biotas have been brought together. Only one fish was previously known from the area, the leuciscine cyprinid Leuciscus (Palaeoleuciscus) oeningensis. Renewed collecting at this locality provides the potential to determine much more information about the composition of the biogeographic contact zone. The two fishes described here are not named; one is placed in the family Clupeidae and the other is left as an indeterminate teleost. The fishes from the Mus¸ Basin locality indicate that the fauna, or at least the fish portion, of the ecotone has an overall Eurasian origin, with little or no Afro-Arabian component.

An assemblage of gastropods from the Thanetian of the Kolosh Formation from the Zakho region in northern Iraq is documented for the first time. The ten species represent the families Campanilidae Douvillé 1904, Potamididae H. & A. Adams 1854, Batillariidae Thiele 1929, Thiaridae Gill 1871, Pachychilidae Fischer & Crosse 1892, Cerithiidae Fleming 1822 and Pseudolividae de Gregorio 1880, suggesting a littoral to shallow sublittoral depositional environment. Six of the species are new and five are formally described as new species. At least seven species are also known from the Thanetian and/or Early Ypresian of the Ankara region in Turkey. Only a single species occurs also in the Paleocene of the Paris Basin. No relation to Paleocene and Eocene faunas of Pakistan and India is detectable. This points to a considerably bioprovincialism along the northern coast of the Tethys. Consequently we suppose the existence of an Anatolian Province in the Thanetian/Ypresian Mediterranean Region of the Tethys Realm, represented by rather homogeneous mollusc faunas from western Turkey and northern Iraq. Campanile zakhoense nov. sp., Pyrazopsis hexagonpyramidalis nov. sp., Pachymelania islamogluae nov. sp., “Faunus” dominicii nov. sp. and Pseudoaluco mesopotamicus nov. sp. are introduced as new species. Varicipotamides Pacaud & Harzhauser nov. nom. is proposed as the replacement name for Exechestoma Cossmann (1889) non Brandt (1837).

Hakkari-Zap Vadisi, Şort Tepe formasyonunda inceleme yapan bilim insanları, yaklaşık 450 milyon yaşında yeni bir tür ile karşılaştı. Milyonlarca yıldır, oldukça iyi korunmuş olan fosil, kresentik (yarım ay şekli) göz yapısı ve geniş vücut segmentleriyle, dünya üzerinde tanımlanan tüm Eurypteridlerden farklılık gösteren bu yeni cins ve tür Paraeurypterus anatoliensis olarak tanımlandı. Dr. James C. Lamsdell ve Prof.Dr. Paul A.Selden ile birlikte yaptıkları yayınla Paraeurypterus anatoliensis’i bilim dünyasına kazandıran Dr. İzzet Hoşgör “Örneklerine çok nadir olarak rastlanan denizel eklembacaklı fosili hem günümüz coğrafyası hem de jeolojik olarak Ordoviziyen paleocoğrafyası açısından bir ilk” diyor.

A new species of eurypterid, Paraeurypterus anatoliensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) Şort Tepe Formation of southeast Turkey. The single specimen, preserving the carapace, mesosoma and fragments of appendages, appears morphologically intermediate between the eurypteroid families Dolichopteridae and Eurypteridae. P. anatoliensis retains the plesiomorphic conditions of crescentic
eyes with enlarged palpebral lobes and a quadrate carapace with ornamentation consisting of small pustules but also displaying the derived characteristics of genal facets and a row of large acicular scales across the posterior of each tergite. Phylogenetic analysis incorporating each of the major eurypterine clades and
all Eurypterina having a three-segmented genital operculum (the triploperculate condition) resolves eurypteroids to be an unnatural group, with Dolichopteridae and Eurypteridae forming part of a grade leading to diploperculate Eurypterina. P. anatoliensis is intermediate between the two eurypteroid families,
as is ‘Eurypterus’ minor from the Pentland Hills of Scotland, which is shown to be a distinct genus and assigned to Pentlandopterus gen. nov. Using the phylogenetic topology to infer ghost ranges for each of the major eurypterid clades reveals that the majority of eurypterid superfamilies must have originated by the Katian, indicating a largely unsampled record of Ordovician eurypterids. The occurrence of poor dispersers such as Paraeurypterus in the Ordovician of Gondwana is puzzling, and it has been suggested that they dispersed to the continent during periods of sea level lowstand in the Sandbian and Hirnantian, however this does not explain the lack of Ordovician species in North America and Europe, given the well-sampled nature of these continents, and an alternative is proposed whereby eurypterids originated in Gondwana and radiated out to Laurentia and Baltica in the late Ordovician and early Silurian, thus explaining their sudden appearance in the European and North American rock record.

A new locality sampling Oligocene marine deposits of the Tethys is located in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey. Among the vertebrate remains recovered from the site are two specimens representing previously undescribed fishes. Each
specimen represents a different taxon, but only one is preserved well enough to describe. We here describe that fish as a new genus and species of elopiform, Echinelops ozcani. The Elopiformes are basal teleost fishes that first appear in the fossil record in the Jurassic. The living diversity of the order is much reduced, with few genera reported from the Cenozoic. Whereas many of the elopiforms are large fishes, the Anatolian specimen is fairly small. Although there is a report of an elopid in the Paratethys region during the Oligocene, the new genus and species of elopiform reported here is the first record of this order in the Tethys Sea during this time.

Two incomplete rostra belonging to the Late Cretaceous belemnite genus Belemnitella have recently been recorded from the Arabian Plate (Tethyan Realm) and document the southernmost extent of migration in the Late Cretaceous belemnite family Belemnitellidae. The rostra were collected from argillaceous limestones belonging to the Lower Member of the Germav Formation (Late CampanianeMaastrichtian), the horizon in question being dated by benthic and planktic foraminifera as Late Campanian.
This belemnitellid occurrence in the Arabian Plate in the Late Campanian suggests a previously unknown migration route connecting the Boreal Realm in the north with the Tethyan carbonate platform areas in
the south. Both rostra are tentatively assigned to Belemnitella sp. cf. B. ex. gr. mucronata. The smaller and more complete rostrum probably represents an adolescent individual, suggesting the existence of a breeding population.

The posidoniform bivalve species Posidonia becheri Bronn, 1828, has been identified for the first time in the Lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian) sandy limestone-dark grey shale deposits of Hakkari Province, south-eastern Turkey. Palaeogeographically, this area was located at the northern tip of the Gondwanan Arabian Palaeozoic platform at the southern
Palaeotethyan margin during the Carboniferous. The closest localities to this new occurrence are the Lower Carboniferous of northern England, Germany (Kulm Basin), Poland (Walbrzych Basin), Northwest Belgium, Spain (Cantabrian Mountains), Portugal, and Northwest Turkey (Zonguldak Basin). All these locations are considered parts of the Avalonian or Perigondwanan terranes, and were locatedNWof the Palaeotethys. Hence, our new finding
from the SE Palaeotethyan margin, together with the data from Morocco, indicates that this posidoniid bivalve had probably been transported by oceanic currents in its larval stage to lower palaeolatitudes (about 50◦ S) within the Palaeotethyan Ocean during the Early Carboniferous,or alternatively, the northern Arabian platform margin was located in lower latitudes than previously suggested.

Brachiopods recently collected from the Zap River Valley area (SE Turkey) allow to establish a Middle Devonian (upper Givetian) age for the upper middle part of the Yıgınlı Formation which was until now considered as Famennian on the
basis of its micropaleontological contents and of its relative position in the series.

A single specimen of the posterior part of a belosaepiid (Belosaepia sp.) has been recorded from Eocene deposits of Southeast Turkey (Arabian Plate, Cilo section, Kavalköy Formation). On the basis of benthic foraminifera, the Kavalköy Formation. has been established as Early Eocene (Ypresian) in age. The new record of Belosaepia from Southeast Turkey shows a significantly larger
palaeogeographic distribution of the genus in the Tethyan Realm than previously known. Specific diversity of Belosaepia, and its geographic distribution and stratigraphy are briefly discussed.

Fossil remains of the extinct boine snake Bavarioboa, thus
far known exclusively from several localities of western and
central Europe, are reported for the first time outside Eu−
rope. The new fossil record is from the Mendikdere Forma−
tion in easternmost Turkey, dated Late Oligocene to Early
Miocene. The finding provides strong evidence of links con−
necting ophidian faunas of Europe and southwestern Asia in
the past, and confirms the supposition that Anatolia may
have had close terrestrial connections with Europe around
the Oligocene/Miocene boundary.

A new trochoidean species, Angaria calvii n. sp., from the early Th anetian of the Kırkkavak Formation (Haymana-Polatlı Basin, Palaeocene) in central Anatolia, is described and placed in the family Turbinidae. Previously, the oldest Cenozoic Angaria was recorded from the Early Palaeocene (Danian) in France (Paris Basin). In this paper, we report the second discovery of the oldest angariid specimens from the Th anetian sediments of the Tethys realm, a stratigraphic position which is supported by the foraminiferal-red alga assemblages at this locality.

Crassostrea cyathula (Lamarck 1806), a valuable biostratigraphic marker, was found for the first time in eastern Turkey (Eastern Mediterranean), in the Rupelian−Lower Chattian sedimentary sequences of northeastern Palu,
Elazığ region, and its palaeoecological characters, palaeobiogeographic and stratigraphic distribution are discussed. These oyster specimens are also the first abundant macrofossils from the Oligocene sediments of the Sarıbuğday-
Kovancılar section, which were formerly only recorded by micropalaeontological data.

The Miocene rocks of the Salyan formation between the Salyan and Ahmetcik village in southeastern Turkey and northeastern Kahramanmaraþ, contain Miocene bivalves and gastropods typical of the Tethys provence. The abundant and generally well-preserved bivalves are dominated by Crassostrea gryphoides (Schlotheim). The taxonomy, paleoecology and palaeogeography of the Neogene ostreid bivalve Crassostrea gryphoides (Schlotheim), and its paleogeographic effect the larval development from the Late Burdigalian-Early
Langhian Salyan formation of the northwestern Kahramanmaraþ Basin (southeastern Turkey) are discussed.

Ampullinid gastropods are useful in correlating the Palaeogene marine strata of Central Anatolia. Ampullinid gastropods are found in the Late Paleocene–Early Eocene Kırkkavak Formation in the Macunköy area (Polatlı, west of Ankara). In the Haymana-Polatlı Basin, a variety of Globularia (Swainson 1840) species is described from the upper part of the Kırkkavak Formation, including
G. sireli n.sp. The other taxa are G. vapincana (d’Orbigny 1850), G. grossa (Deshayes 1864) and G. crassatina (Lamarck 1804). The
Kırkkavak fauna is known in western and central Europe, and central Asia. Some of the ampullinid gastropods and associated cerithidand neritid gastropods as well as bivalves are conspecific with forms from the Palaeogene of Europe and central Asia. The palaeobiogeographical affinity of the ampullinid Globularia fauna is typically Tethyan, with many taxa that are known particularly from
western-central Tethys. The inferred palaeo-environment, as implied by the ampullinids, is a shallow shelf. There is a marked stratigraphic lag between the first appearance of Globularia species in central Anatolia in the Late Paleocene–
Early Eocene, and the later documented appearance of the genus in the Early Eocene–Early Oligocene in Europe. This suggests that central Anatolia was located on the westward migration route of the Early Eocene ampullinid faunas.

Two new species, Harpactocarcinus yozgatensis from the early Eocene (Ypresian) Yoncalı Formation of Turkey and H. dalmatius from the middle Eocene (Bartonian) Foraminiferal limestones of Hvar Island, Croatia, are described. Harpactocarcinus yozgatensis suggests an early Eocene origin of the genus. Their discovery posits a more easterly point of origin for the genus than was previously known, a position which is supported by the foraminiferal assemblages of both localities. Evaluation of species referred to Harpactocarcinus has resulted in one new combination, Neozanthopsis achalzicus (Bittner in Abich, 1882).

Marine bivalves Septimyalina sublamellosa (Etheridge 1878), Septimyalina lamellosa (de Koninck 1842), Septimyalina minor (Brown 1841) and Posidonia becheri Bronn, 1828 are described from the Visean–Namurian transition of Zonguldak coal basin, Northwestern Turkey. Macroinvertebrate fossils are rare in the Lower Carboniferous of the Zonguldak coal basin and only a few shallow marine forms of Myalinidae and Posidoniidae families are present. Their palaeobiogeographic distribution delineates a seaway from Britain to the Black Sea coast during the Carboniferous.

Geologically the oldest Petroleum Sytem (PS) is the Paleozoic Bedinan/Dadas system, which is located mostly in the Diyarbakir Basin (Southeastern Anatolia) and extends into surrounding portions of Iraq, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. This PS's petroleum source rock is a shale facies in the Dadas-1 member of the Dadas Formation which produce light gravity (commonly greater than 40API), non-sulfur oil in the foreland basin to the southeastern Turkey. The main source rock interval (the so called 'hot shale') is up to 40m thick with avarage total organic carbon (TOC) of as much as 5%, and a general Tmax value (435C-440C) of maturation in the Diyarbakir Basin. Most of the hydrocarbon play elements known from the Arabian Basin are also known to be present in the Diyarbakir Basin; thick, porous Upper Ordovician sandstones are present and provide excellent potential reservoirs, the Silurian shales should act as effective potential seals or source rocks. The individual members of the early-late Silurian (Wenlock- Pridoli) to Early Devonian (Lochkovian) age Dadas Formation of the Diyarbakir area in SE Turkey were evaluated in respect to their potential of petroleum formation based on some organic-geochemical, petrographic and biostratigraphical analyses. Strata of the Ordovician Bedinan Formation represent the oldest reservoir rocks exposed in the Diyarbakir Basin and with Silurian Dadas Formation in subsurface were recorded from several deep wells G.Sarik-1 to Silvan-1 in southeastern Anatolia. Arpatepe-1, Bahar-1, B.çaliktepe-1 wells are some of the new discoveries in this region. Minerological composition of the Dadas Formation which is very important for the hydraulic fracturing operation should be investigated in detail. During the Upper Ordovician time frame, Southern Turkey was located in a high latitude east Gondwana setting ∼60° S of the equator, and was subjected to the effects of the Late Ordovician (Hirnanntian) glaciation. Uppermost strata of the Bedinan Fm. comprise 30m thick cross-bedded sandstones probably tidal in origin, which are truncated by the glaciation-related deposits. In the subsurface, an additional, essentially shale-prone succession of upper Katian to Hirnantian age is identified beneath the glacial-related deposits.


Read More: http://library.seg.org/doi/10.1190/ice2016-6459961.1

All new macro-paleontological samples described below were collected at two localities of Hakkari area (Turkey/Iraq boundary), and Mardin-Mazıdağı area (close to Turkey/Syria boundary). We present here the first section, especially northernmost occurrence known of a Tethyan record of veneriids located close to the Turkey/Syria boundary. The Aphrodina dutrugei (Cocquand, 1862) heterodont bivalve species and monotaxic shell beds which are the focus of this study occurs within the Derdere Formation which form the middle part, Cenomanian interval of the Mardin Group.

The second section, the southernmost occurrence known of a Tethyan record of Belemnitella, is located close to the Turkey/Iraq boundary. This study aims to clarify the stratigraphic setting of the Lower Member of the Germav Formation (Late Campanian-Maastrichtian) in the Hakkari region (Cilo Dağ area) on the basis of the occurrence of the belemnite Belemnitella sp. cf. B. ex. gr. mucronata recovered and to discuss the palaeogeographic implications of this occurrence (Perinçek, 1990; Hoşgör and Kostak, 2012). Supporting the paleogeographic implications, Karim and Surdashy (2006) also mentioned about belemnites found together with rudists and gastropods in biogenic (organodetritic) limestones of the middle part, the so-called “Katomixed siliciclastic carbonate succession”, of the Campanian-Maastrichtian Tanjero Formation in northeast Iraq.

Aphrodina dutrugei (Cocquand, 1862), of the families Veneridae Rafinesque, 1815 is very common faunal elements in the early Late Cretaceous period of the only Egypt, Jordan and northern Syria. The enigmatic occurrence of the Late Campanian Belemnitella in the Arabian Plate represents the southernmost belemnitellid immigration known in the Late Cretaceous. We present a new and still poorly known migration pattern for belemnites into warmer Tethyan areas during the Late Campanian-Maastrichtian. This immigration event is considered to be connected to global cooling during this period (Hoşgör and Kostak, 2012).

Moreover, these new records are very important because for the first time new bivalve and cephalopod species are described from Turkish successions from the ramp environment of the Arabian platform.

The studied pelagic succession lies on the northern Arabian Platform in the Mazidag-Derik area, SE Turkey. Upper Campanian paleoceanographic events and paleoecology in the studied area have been determined for the first time in Turkey by sedimentological, geochemical and micopaleontological analysis. A composite stratigraphic section has been measured and sampled in detail. The section is characterized by alternation of marls, clayey limestones, shales and black shales. There are no coarse siliciclastic sediments or turbiditic structures recorded in the section. Stable isotope analysis have been carried out on 45 samples along the Mazıdağ measured stratigraphic section with a thickness of 119.25 m. δ 13 C values range between min. 0.57 ‰ and max. 1.92 ‰ and δ 18 O values range between min.-4.23 ‰ and max.-3.45 ‰. The isotope curves obtained are divided in to 4 zones to analyze the minor details in between. The isotope zones display similar patterns with curves determined in European and Chinese basins in the same time interval. Especially, the negative carbon isotope excursion determined in the second zone is parallel with the Upper Campanian Event. Proxy elemental geochemistry displays generally two relative phases of rise in productivity; One in the lower part of the section and the other one in the mid part. Redox proxy elements indicate that the lower part of the section is relatively more dysoxic compared to the upper part. This coincides with the presence of frequent black shale beds in the lower part. The result of nannofossils analysis indicated that warm-water marine and low-latitude Tethyan oceanic environment was present in the studied interval. Independently, the plant fossils records in the same measured section displayed that there was a tropical humid climate condition similar to those of north east Australia. Consequently, warm water, tropical humid atmospheric conditions developed on the studied area on the northern Arabian platform causing the rise in productivity, precipitation and transportation of plant debris in to offshore following an oceanic event developed on the Arabian platform margin.

The studied Cenomanian shallow water platform carbonates of the Derdere Formation lies on the northern Arabian platform in Mardin area, SE Turkey. The sedimentology and cyclic nature of the facies along the studied composite sections have been analysed in terms of cyclostratigraphy. In the lower section, alternations of benthic foraminiferal-algal packstone/wackestone and bioturbated bioclastic wackstone/lime mudstone take place at the base of small scale cycles. Alternations of bivalve/ostracod wackestone/packstone and lime mudstone with ostracoda or dolomitic limestone/dolostone or fenestral limestone facies lie at the top representing a relative shallowing feature in this part of the section. At the top of the cycles mud cracks can be occasionally observed. In the middle part of the lower section, a cross bedded bioclastic tidal channel deposit is recorded. In the upper section, slope to outer ramp carbonates lies at the bottom and characterized by echinoidal-crinoidal bioclastic wackestone to packstone facies. This facies alternates with bivalve packstones which display oriented accumulation of monotaxic bivalve species down dip orientation with an imbricate fabric. Matrix of the bivalve packstone is composed of micrite with planktonic foraminifera and calcispheres. Inside of the shells includes abundant " Favreina " like caprolite fossils and displays a pelloidal grainstone facies. Presence of abundant monotaxic shells infilled by " Favreina " like fossils with orientation has been interpreted that suspension feeding bivalve shells caused an increase in bioaccumulation on the shelves and transported down the slope of the Arabian Platform by a unidirectional flow. Bioclastic wackestone/packstone facies with crinoids and echinoids including benthic foraminifera, ammonites and ostrea takes place in the middle part of the section representing a relative deepening. Nerinid gastrapod, dasyclad algae, benthic foraminifera bearing pelloidal intraclastic wackestone-packstone facies occurs at the top most part of the section representing a relative shallowing. Consequently, oriented bivalve accumulation indicates current controlled transportation. No storm or mass flow evidence was observed. Cyclic carbonate facies changes revealed that collaboration of climate, carbonate production and subsidence played important role on small meter scale sea level changes. However, sea level and tectonics contributed in large scale as alternating shallowing and deepening cycles in 10's meters.