Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal of African Earth Sciences, cilt.237, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
This study presents an integrated sedimentological, microfacies, and palynological analyses of the Late Eocene–?Early Oligocene (Priabonian–?Rupelian) Akçapınar Formation, exposed along the Soğanlı Stream in the Intra-Pontide Belt of the Western Black Sea region, Turkey. The formation, which overlies the evaporitic Pürçükören Formation and locally the Soğanlı Formation, records deposition in restricted shallow-marine to a lagoonal setting during a phase of significant tectonic and climatic reorganization. Detailed field mapping and measured stratigraphic sections, supported by petrographic, XRD, and SEM analyses, reveal mud-supported textures, limited faunal diversity, and thin-shelled gastropods, consistent with low-energy, brackish conditions. Palynological assemblages, identified here for the first time, refine the age constraints and document freshwater influence, whereas mineralogical data indicate alternating arid (smectite-rich) and humid (chlorite–illite-rich) intervals. Microfacies patterns (Mf1–Mf4) and lithofacies associations (Lf1–Lf8) were synthesized into three-dimensional depositional models, illustrating progressive basin restriction, episodic subaerial exposure, and evaporite precipitation. The multi-proxy approach, integrating sedimentology, microfacies, palynology, and mineralogy, refined the depositional model of the Akçapınar Formation, revealing facies heterogeneity driven by the interplay of tectonically induced basin isolation, relative sea-level fluctuations, and paleoclimatic oscillations during the Eocene–Oligocene transition, and providing new insights into the paleogeographic evolution of the northern Neo-Tethys during the final stages of its closure.