Browsing by Author "Shen, Chuan-Chou"

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Giant Tufas of Lake Van Record Lake-Level Fluctuations and Climatic Changes in Eastern Anatolia,turkey
(Elsevier, 2019) Yesilova, Cetin; Gulyuz, Erhan; Huang, Ci-Rong; Shen, Chuan-Chou
Lake Van, the largest soda lake in the world, is a key area where climatic changes are recorded by well-preserved sedimentary successions. In spite of the existence of such sequences, the ancient lake levels are still under debate. Here, we present U/Th ages of tufa layers exposed along the northern margin of the lake near the town of Adilcevaz. Tufa are interpreted to form during humid and temperate climate conditions in the contact zone between the highly alkaline lake water - rich in bicarbonate and carbonate ions - and calcium-rich groundwater. These contact zones most likely appear near shore. Thus, U/Th ages and altitude of the tufa present minimum ancient lakestands. The tufas obtained in our study are dated between 112.7 and 19.3 ka. They are interpreted to record two transgressional intervals, the first starting at 1701 meters above sea level (masl) altitude at 112.7 ka reaching 1706 masl at 72.5 ka (based on three U/Th ages). The second transgression starts at the present Lake Van level of 1646 masl at 30.1 ka, reaching 1725 masl at 19.3 ka (based on 15 U/Th ages). Comparison with climate proxies reveals that the first transgression was caused by intensified precipitation accompanied by warming, while the second transgression was triggered mainly by warming that initiated melting of glaciers. The lake-level fluctuations described here are almost in line with the ones gathered from dated lake terraces but contradict lake-level reconstruction based on pore water salinity.
U-Th Ages and Facies Properties of Edremit Travertines and Tufas, Van, Eastern Anatolia: Implications for the Neotectonics of the Region
(Polish Geological inst, 2021) Yesilova, Cetin; Yesilova, Pelin Gungor; Aclan, Mustafa; Yu, Tsai-Luen; Shen, Chuan-Chou
Travertine formation is one of the most important archives of active tectonics in a region and provides information about climate, water temperature and quantity, and biological activity. The Edremit travertines and tufas extend over nearly160 km(2) within the boundaries of the Edremit area to the east of Lake Van (eastern Turkey), and yield important evidence towards understanding the neotectonics of the region. The Edremit travertines and tufas were studied throughout their full stratigraphic extent, the factors controlling the formation of these deposits were examined, and the succession was sampled for U/Th analysis. Travertine formation was found to occur from 542-29.7 ka, with two different tufa formation periods: from 29.7-5.8 ka and 5.8-2.08 ka. Pauses in travertine formation (palaeosols) were identified from 510-470 ka, 289-269 ka and 91-34 ka. Our study showed that climate parameters affected the formation of tufa, while the Edremit travertines developed under the control of tectonism. The Van Fault is directly associated with travertine development and its age was identified as 542 ka or older. Since the Gurpinar Fault, one of the most important faults in the region, is effective in shaping the southern slope of the travertines and limiting the movement of the Van Fault, its age should be younger than 542.4 ka. The Elmalik Fault played an active role in the formation of the Edremit tufas and is proposed to be 29.7 ka in age, from stratigraphic relationships in the region.