THE LATE CENOZOIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE GEDIZ RIVER, TURKEY

Over recent decades substantial progress has been made in the description and interpretation of Quaternary fluvial system development, especially in Europe and North America. These studies now form part of the IGCP449 programme, Global correlation of Late Cenozoic fluvial deposits. Unfortunately, this programme remains severely hampered by sparse geographical coverage in certain areas of the globe. This project seeks comparative information from within one of the identified data-vacuum areas, Turkey. Specifically this project will investigate in detail the nature of the Quaternary fluvial sedimentary and landform records in the Gediz river valley in the vicinity of Kula, south-western Turkey. Here, volcanic activity, triggered by regional tectonic uplift, has played a significant role in controlling fluvial sedimentation. Renewed investigation of this sedimentary/landform archive will allow the application of modern methodologies. The specific objectives of this NERC funded study are:

• To provide detailed baseline data concerning the nature and extent of Late Cenozoic fluvial deposits within the study area.

• To place this fluvial record within a tightly constrained temporal framework allowing correlation with regional tectonic and climate change histories

• To provide a direct contribution to IGCP449

This poster will describe preliminary observations made of this sequence during the first two field seasons of study (2001/2) and discuss the strategy for the planned fieldwork in 2003/4.