Sedimentological characteristics of Quaternary Aydincik tufa (Mersin-Turkiye)

The Aydincik tufa crops out in an area of approximately 1 km(2) along the Mediterranean coast of AydA +/- ncA +/- k town (Mersin-Turkey) located at the southern flank of the central Taurus mountain belt comprising clastics and carbonates ranging from Late Proterozoic to middle Eocene and several NE-SW aligned faults. It comprises seven texturally different facies: phytoherm framestone facies, phytoherm boundstone facies, micritic tufa facies, crossbedded carbonate sandstone facies, carbonate-coated conglomerate facies, pebbly carbonate sandstone facies, and tufa breccias facies. Of these, the phytoherm framestone facies and the phytoherm boundstone facies were deposited at the peripheral part of lake, whereas the micritic tufa facies toward the lake depocenter. Tufa breccias facies and crossbedded carbonate sandstone facies were resulted from erosion and redeposition of fragments from previously formed units such as phytoherm framestone and boundstone by fluvial activities developed within the environment. The tufa samples are composed of low-Mg calcite, and the terrigenous material in all tufa facies is generally very low. C and O isotop data show that the deposition of the AydA +/- ncA +/- k tufa took place under cold water condition. The sedimentological and mineralogical characteristics of the facies points that the AydA +/- ncA +/- k tufa was deposited in a fluvio-lacustrine environment in which the terrigen input was very low and was feeded by water from springs developed along the faults close to the Aydincik tufa.