TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mischke, Steffen
A1  - Schudack, Ulla
A1  - Bertrand, Sebastien
A1  - Leroy, Suzanne A. G.
T1  - Ostracods from a Marmara Sea lagoon (Turkey) as tsunami indicators
T2  - Quaternary international : the journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research
N2  - A 352 cm long sediment core from Hersek Lagoon (Gulf of Izmit) was investigated for its ostracod species composition in order to evaluate the potential of ostracods to detect tsunami deposits in coastal environments. The Gulf of Izmit is the eastern bay of the Marmara Sea which is tectonically controlled by the North Anatolian Fault. Ostracod shells are rare in the lower third of the core, which probably represents a coastal wetland environment. According to radiocarbon dating of terrestrial plant remains, this unit was deposited between AD 500 and AD 800. Above, ostracod shells are abundant and dominantly monospecific, composed almost exclusively of the widespread brackish water ostracod Cyprideis torosa. This almost monospecific occurrence indicates the establishment and maintenance of the Hersek Lagoon after AD 800. Three distinct layers of mollusc shells and fragments contain ostracod shells of marine and to a lesser extent non-marine origin in addition to those of C. torosa. The shell layers are further characterized by significant maxima in total ostracod shell numbers. The high concentration of ostracod shells, the higher species numbers and the mixture of marine, lagoonal and non-marine ostracod shells shows that shell layers were formed as high-energy deposits resulting from tsunamis or large storms in the Marmara Sea. The partial occurrence of non-marine ostracod shells in the shell layers possibly indicates that tsunamis with extensive run-ups and significant backwash flows caused the high-energy deposits rather than large storms. The investigated sediments show that lagoonal ostracods can serve as good proxies for tsunamis or large storms through significant variations in total shell numbers, species numbers and the mixing of shells of different origin.
Y1  - 2012
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/35891
SN  - 1040-6182
SN  - 1873-4553
VL  - 261
IS  - 20
SP  - 156
EP  - 161
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  -