Research Information System
Geological Quarterly, vol.65, no.2, pp.1-20, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
Trav er tine for ma tion is one of the most im por tant ar chives of ac tive tec ton ics in a re gion and pro vides in for ma tion about cli -
mate, wa ter tem per a ture and quan tity, and bi o log i cal ac tiv ity. The Edremit travertines and tufas ex tend over nearly160 km2
within the bound aries of the Edremit area to the east of Lake Van (east ern Tur key), and yield im por tant ev i dence to wards un -
der stand ing the neotectonics of the re gion. The Edremit travertines and tufas were stud ied through out their full strati graphic
ex tent, the fac tors con trol ling the for ma tion of these de pos its were ex am ined, and the suc ces sion was sam pled for U/Th
anal y sis. Trav er tine for ma tion was found to oc cur from 542–29.7 ka, with two dif fer ent tufa for ma tion pe ri ods: from
29.7–5.8 ka and 5.8–2.08 ka. Pauses in trav er tine for ma tion (palaeosols) were iden ti fied from 510–470 ka, 289–269 ka and
91–34 ka. Our study showed that cli mate pa ram e ters af fected the for ma tion of tufa, while the Edremit travertines de vel oped
un der the con trol of tectonism. The Van Fault is di rectly as so ci ated with trav er tine de vel op ment and its age was iden ti fied as
542 ka or older. Since the GürpÏnar Fault, one of the most im por tant faults in the re gion, is ef fec tive in shap ing the south ern
slope of the travertines and lim it ing the move ment of the Van Fault, its age should be youn ger than 542.4 ka. The ElmalÏk
Fault played an ac tive role in the for ma tion of the Edremit tufas and is pro posed to be 29.7 ka in age, from strati graphic re la -
tion ships in the re gion.