Late Quaternary palaeohydrology of the Konya Basin, Turkey, based on isotope studies of modern hydrology and lacustrine carbonates

Abstract

The Konya plain in south central Anatolia, Turkey, which is now largely dry, was occupied around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum by a fresh-oligosaline lake covering more than 4000 km2. Sediment cores from three residual water bodies (Pinarbasi, Akgol and Suleymanhaci) within the larger Pleistocene lake basin, have been analysed using a multidisciplinary approach. The sediment sequences are dated as spanning the last > 50 Ka years, although breaks in sedimentation mean that there is only partial chronological overlap between them. Carbon and oxygen isotope analyses on lacustrine carbonate from the three cores give contrasting isotope profiles which reflect the different ages and independent hydrological behaviour of different sub-basins through the late Quaternary. Distinguishing changes that are regional from local effects is aided by modern isotope hydrology studies and by comparing the carbonate δ13C and δ18O values to diatom and other analyses undertaken on the same cores.