THE PALEOMAGNETIC STRATIGRAPHY OF THE FOSSILIFERIOUS PALEOGENE UZUNCARSIDERE FORMATION, CENTRAL TURKEY

The Uzuncarsidere Formation (UCF) (Gokten et al. 1988; Kocyigit 1991; Kappelman 1996) is a little known terrestrial geological formation of early Paleogene age in Central Turkey. The formation has yielded a diverse fauna of at least 15 previously unknown mammal species (Maas et al. 2001), including one fairly complete marsupial skeleton (Maga et al. 2004). The paleontological significance of UCF lies in the fact that, it represents one of the few early Paleogene vertebrate faunas in the region bounded by Western Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and northern Africa, a radius of some 1000 km.

The geological age of the UCF and similar continental red beds in Central Turkey are questionable. Various authors assigned Paleocene or Eocene age based on the stratigraphic position of UCF between the overlying Lutetian limestone (Orhaniye formation) and underlying Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) aged flysch. Obviously, this creates considerable problem for any systematic analysis of the fauna and hinders any reasonable biogeographical interpretation.

In this project, we correlate the lithofacies of UCF with the paleomagnetic stratigraphy so that the age of the fossiliferious section in the formation is constrained. In addition to this, the fossil localities will be mapped using GPS and a spatial distribution analysis will be conducted.

Using measured sections and marker beds, a composite vertical stratigraphy of UCF is produced. One hand sample per locality and/or stratum is collected for the paleomagnetic stratigraphy. 65 hand samples corresponding approximately 130m of thickness have been collected. For each sample, the in-situ orientation and dip is measured by a pocket transit. The results from the samples are then going to be correlated with the geomagnetic polarity time scale (Harland et al. 1992).