Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Petrographical and mineralogical study of detrital strata near and within the Ballık travertine deposit (SW Turkey): architecture of a mixed clastic–carbonate succession

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Ballık area (SW Turkey) was studied as a mixed clastic–continental carbonate reservoir analogue, in which kilometre wide and up to 70-m-thick tufa and travertine lithologies are found in an envelope of detrital sediments, which locally strongly interfinger with these porous carbonates. Former studies focussed on the carbonate lithologies, since they are considered as pre-salt analogues. This study aims to describe the adjacent non-carbonate lithologies, unravel their depositional setting, and address their influence on the overall sedimentary architecture. This study relies on an extensive field campaign, during which 142 samples of all different detrital lithologies were collected. Optical, fluorescence, cathodoluminescence, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) yielded important insights in the petrography of these lithologies, based on which 5 main lithologies were differentiated: i.e., (1) laminated marls, (2) polygenetic conglomerates, (3) massive marls, (4) tabular sandstones, and (5) coquina accumulations. These were interpreted to represent three different sedimentary facies corresponding to lacustrine, fluvial, and shoreline facies. The (clay) mineralogy of lacustrine sediments was extensively studied by bulk and clay-specific XRD. In this respect, special emphasis was laid on the depositional setting of the lacustrine facies, in which both authigenic palygorskite and poorly ordered dolomite were identified. Petrophysical properties of 16 plugs were determined by He porosimetry and N2-permeability, indicating that the detrital sediments are characterised by poor reservoir properties. The latter causes them to act, after assumed burial compaction, as potential barriers within a continental carbonate reservoir system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alçiçek MC, Brogi A, Capezzuoli E, Liotta D, Meccheri M (2013) Superimposed basin formation during the Neogene-Quaternary extensional tectonics in SW-Anatolia (Turkey): insights from the kinematics of the Dinar Fault Zone. Tectonophysics 608:713–727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alçiçek H, Bülbül A, Yavuzer I, Alçiçek MC (2019) Origin and evolution of the thermal waters from the Pamukkale Geothermal Field (Denizli Basin, SW Anatolia, Turkey): Insights from hydrogeochemistry and geothermometry. J Volcanol Geoth Res 372:48–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amireh BS, Schneider W, Abed AM (1994) Evolving fluvial-transitional-marine deposition through the Cambrian sequence of Jordan. Sediment Geol 89(1–2):65–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayliss P, Erd DC, Mrose ME, Sabina AP, Smith DK (1986) Mineral powder diffraction file. search manual. International Centre for Diffraction Data, Swarthmore, USA, p 467

  • Bear J (1972) Dynamics of fluids in porous media. American Elsevier Publishing Company, New York, p 764

    Google Scholar 

  • Beltrão RLC, Sombra CL, Lage ACVM, Fagundes Netto JR, Henriques CCD (2009) Challenges and new technologies for the development of pre-salt cluster, Santos Basin, Brazil. Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, Texas, USA, pp 587–597

  • Besacier-Monbertrand AL, Paillex A, Castella E (2010) Alien aquatic macroinvertebrates along the lateral dimension of a large floodplain. Biol Invasions 12(7):2219–2231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boehrer B, Schultze M (2008) Stratification of lakes. Rev Geophys 46(2):210–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boggs S, Krinsley DH (2006) Application of cathodoluminescence imaging to the study of sedimentary rocks. Cambridge University Press, Camebridge, p 165

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Botha GA, Hughes JC (1992) Pedogenic palygorskite and dolomite in a late Neogene sedimentary succession, northwestern Transvaal, South Africa. Geoderma 53:139–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bozkurt E (2001) Neotectonic of Turkey-a synthesis. Geodin Acta 14:3–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bozkurt E (2003) Origin of NE-trending basins in western Turkey. Geodin Acta 16:61–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capezzuoli E, Ruggieri G, Rimondi V, Brogi A, Liotta D, Alçiçek H, Bülbül A, Gandin A, Meccheri M, Shen CC, Baykara MO (2018) Calcite veining and feeding conduits in a hydrothermal system: Insights from a natural section across the Pleistocene Gölemezli travertine depositional system (western Anatolia, Turkey). Sediemnt Geol 364:180–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carnicelli S, Benvenuti M, Andreucci S, Ciampalini R (2015) Late Pleistocene relic Ultisols and Alfisols in an alluvial fan complex in coastal Tuscany. Quatern Int 376:163–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chinelatto GF, Vidal AC, Kuroda MC, Basilici G (2018) A taphofacies model for coquina sedimentation in lakes (Lower Cretaceous, Morro de Chaves Formation, NE Brazil). Cretac Res 85(5):1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claes H, Soete J, Van Noten K, El Desouky H, Marques Erthal M, Vanhaecke F, Özkul M, Swennen R (2015) Sedimentology, three-dimensional geobody reconstruction and carbon dioxide origin of Pleistocene travertine deposits in the Ballık area (south-west Turkey). Sedimentology 62:1408–1445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croci A, Della Porta G, Capezzuoli E (2016) Depositional architecture of a mixed travertine-terrigenous system in a fault-controlled continental extensional basin (Messinian, Southern Tuscany, Central Italy). Sed Geol 332:13–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delicado D, Machordom A, Ramos MA (2013) Living on the mountains: Patterns and causes of diversification in the springsnail subgenus Pseudamnicola (Corrosella) (Mollusca: Caenogastropoda: Hydrobiidae). Mol Phylogenet Evol 68(3):387–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El Desouky H, Soete J, Claes H, Özkul M, Vanhaecke F, Swennen R (2015) Novel applications of fluid inclusions and isotope geochemistry in unravelling the genesis of fossil travertine systems. Sedimentology 62:27–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fick C, Toldo EE Jr, Puhl E (2018) Shell concentration dynamics driven by wave motion in flume experiments: insights for coquina facies from lake-margin settings. Sed Geol 375:98–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gawthorpe RL, Leeder MR (2000) Tectono-sedimentary evolution of active extensional basins. Basin Res 12:195–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gawthorpe RL, Fraser AJ, Collier REL (1994) Sequence stratigraphy in active extensional basins: Implications for the interpretation of ancient basin-fills. Mar Pet Geol 11:642–658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gierlowski-Kordesch E, Finkelstein DB, Holland T, J.J., Kallini, K.D. (2013) Carbonate lake deposits associated with distal siliciclastic perennial-river systems. J Sediment Res 83(12):1114–1129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson ML (1973) Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, p 498

    Google Scholar 

  • Janssens A, Swennen R, Podoor N, Keppens E (1999) Biological and diagenetic influence in recent and fossil tufa deposits from Belgium. Sed Geol 126:75–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khatib S, Rochette P, Alçiçek MC, Lebatard AE, Saos T (2014) Stratigraphic, sedimentologic and paleomagnetic study of the Kocabas travertines, Denizli Basin, Anatolia. Anthropologie 118:16–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lebatard AE, Alçiçek MC, Rochette P, Khatib S, Vialet A, Boulbes N, Bourlès DL, Demory F, Guipert G, Mayda S, Titov VV, Vidal L, de Lumley H (2014) Dating the Homo erectus bearing travertine from Kocabaş (Denizli, Turkey) at least 1.1 Ma. Earth Planet Sci Lett 390:8–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leverson AI (1954) Geology of Petroleum: San Francisco. W.H. Freeman and Co., New York, p 703

    Google Scholar 

  • Liébault F, Lallias-Tacon S, Cassel M, Talaska N (2013) Long profile responses of alpine braided rivers in SE France. River Res Appl 29(10):1253–1266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma J, Wu C, Wang Y, Wang J, Fang Y, Zhu W, Zhai L, Zhou T (2017) Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of a saline lake in the Tertiary: evidence from aragonite laminae in the northern Tibet Plateau. Sed Geol 353:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martini I, Capezzuoli E (2014) Interdigitated fluvial clastic deposits and calcareous tufa testifying an uplift of the catchment area: an example from the Pianizzoli area (southern Tuscany, Italy). Sed Geol 299:60–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matter A, Mahjoub A, Neubert E, Preusser F, Schwalb A, Szidat S, Wulf G (2016) Reactivation of the Pleistocene trans-Arabian Wadi ad Dawasir fluvial system (Saudi Arabia) during the Holocene humid phase. Geomorphology 270:88–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore DM, Reynolds RC (1997) X-Ray Diffraction and the Identification and Analysis of Clay Minerals, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York, p 378

    Google Scholar 

  • Mors RA, Astini RA, Gomez FJ (2019) Coexisting active travertines and tufas in the southeastern border of the Puna plateau. Sed Geol 389:200–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mtelela C, Roberts EM, Hilbert-Wolf HL, Downie R, Hendrix MS, O’Conner PM, Stevens NJ (2017) Sedimentology and paleoenvironments of a new fossiliferous late Miocene-Pliocene sedimentary succession in the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania. J Afr Earth Sc 129:260–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muniz MC, Bosence DWJ (2015) Pre-Salt microbialites from the Campos Basin (offshore Brazil): image log facies, facies model and cyclicity in lacustrine carbonates. Geolog Soc Lond Spec Publ 418:221–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nash MC, Opdyke BN, Wu Z, Xu H, Trafford JM (2013) Simple X-ray diffraction to identify MG calcite, dolomite and magnesite in tropical coralline algae and assess peak assymentry. J Sediment Res 83:1084–1098

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Özkul M, Kele S, Gökgöz A, Shen CC, Jones B, Baykara MO, Fórizs I, Németh T, Chang YW, Alçiçek MC (2013) Comparison of the Quaternary travertine sites in the Denizli extensional basin based on their depositional and geochemical data. Sed Geol 294:179–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rausch L, Alçiçek H, Vialet A, Boulbes N, Mayda S, Titov VV, Stoica M, Charbonier S, Abels HA, Tesakov AS, Moigne A-M, Andrieu-Ponel V, de Franceschi D, Wesselingh FP, Alçiçek MC (2019) An integrated reconstruction of the early Pleistocene palaeoenvironment of Homo erectus in Denizli Basin (Turkey). Geobios 57:77–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renaut RW, Owen RB, Jones B, Tiercelin JJ, Tarits C, Ego JK, Konhauser KO (2012) Impact of lake-level changes on the formation of thermogene travertine in continental rifts: evidence from Lake Bogoria. Kenya Rift Valley Sedimentol 60(2):424–468

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodas M, Luque FJ, Mas R, Garzon MG (1994) Calcretes, palycretes and silcretes in the Paleogene detrital sediments of the Duero and Tajo Basins, Central Spain. Clay Miner 29:273–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Blanco JD, Shaw S, Benning LG (2015) A route for the direct crystallization of dolomite. Am Miner 100:1172–1181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ronduit N (2007) JMicroVision: un logiciel d'analyse d'images pétrographiques polyvalent. PhD thesis presented at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Genève to obtain the degree of Doctor in Science. Thesis n, 3830

  • Serck CS, Braathen A (2019) Extensional fault and fold growth: Impact on accommodation evolution and sedimentary infill. Basin Res 31(5):967–990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soete J, Kleipool L, Claes H, Claes S, Hamaekers H, Kele S, Özkul M, Foubert A, Reijmer J, Swennen R (2015) Acoustic properties in travertines and their relation to porosity and pore types. Mar Pet Geol 59:320–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sözbilir H (2002) Revised stratigraphy and facies analysis of palaeocene-eocene supra-allochthonous sediments (Denizli, SW Turkey) and their tectonic significance. Turkish J Earth Sci 11:87–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Spalletti LA, Piñol FC (2005) From alluvial fan to playa: an upper jurassic ephemeral fluvial system, Neuquén Basin. Argent Gondwana Res 8(3):363–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ten Veen JH, Boulton SJ, Alçiçek MC (2009) From palaeotectonics to neotectonics in the Neotethys realm: the importance of kinematic decoupling and inherited structural grain in SW Anatolia (Turkey). Tectonophysics 473:261–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toker E, Kayseri-Özer MS, Özkul M, Kele S (2015) Depositional system and palaeoclimatic interpretations of Middle to Late Pleistocene travertines: Kocabaş, Denizli, south-west Turkey. Sedimentology 62(5):1360–1383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valero-Garcés B, Morellón M, Moreno A, Corella JP, Martín-Puertas C, Barreiro F, Pérez A, Giralt S, Mata-Campo MP (2014) Lacustrine carbonates of Iberian Karst Lakes: sources, processes and depositional environments. Sed Geol 299:1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Noten K, Claes H, Soete J, Foubert A, Özkul M, Swennen R (2013) Fracture networks and strike-slip deformation along reactivated normal faults in Quaternary travertine deposits, Denizli Basin, western Turkey. Tectonophysics 588:154–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Noten K, Baykara O, Topal S, Claes H, Ozkul M, Swennen R, Aratman C (2019) Pleistocene-Holocene tectonic reconstruction of the Ballık travertine (Denizli Graben, SW Turkey): (De)formation of large travertine geobodies at intersecting grabens. J Struct Geol 118:114–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virgone A, Broucke O, Held AE, Lopez B, Seard C, Camoin G, Swennen R, Foubert A, Rouchy JM, Pabian-Goyheneche C, Guo L (2013) Contintental carbonates reservoirs: the importance of analogues to understand presalt discoveries. International Petroleum Technology Conference, Beijing, China, pp 4439–4447.

  • Walk J, Stauch G, Bartz M, Brückner H, Lehmkuhl F (2019) Geomorphology of the coastal alluvial fan complex Guanillos, northern Chile. J Maps 15:436–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welton JE (1984) SEM petrology atlas. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Oklahoma, p 237p

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Westaway R, Guillou H, Yurtmen S, Demir T, Scaillet S, Rowbotham G (2005) Constraints on the timing and regional conditions at the start of the present phase of crustal extension in western Turkey, from observations in and around the Denizli region. Geodin Acta 18(3–4):209–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie Q, Chen T, Zhou H, Xu X, Xu H, Ji J, Lu H, Balsam W (2013) Mechanism of palygorskite formation in the Red Clay Formation on the Chinese Loess Plateau, northwest China. Geoderma 192:39–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zolitschka B, Francus P, Ojala AEK, Schimmelmann A (2015) Varves in lake sediments: a review. Quat Sci Rev 117:1–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Special gratitude goes to Johanna van Daele (KU Leuven) for the SEM images and to Thomas Neubauer (Justus Liebig University) for the classification of the gastropod as Hydrobiidae. We would like to thank Herman Nijs (KU Leuven) for the preparation of the thin sections. We are also grateful to Nancy Weyns (KU Leuven) and Ria Brepoels (KU Leuven) for the help with the mineralogical measurements. Furthermore, the guidance of Mehmet Özkul (Pamukkale University) helped us to carry out the field campaign successfully. Finally, we would still like to thank the Editor of IJES and the reviewer for her constructive and detailed feedback on this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Geology–Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001, Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium

    Michaël Verbiest, Ophélie Fay-Gomord, Cihan Aratman & Rudy Swennen

  2. Department of Materials Engineering–Structural Composites and Alloys, Integrity and Nondestructive Testing, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 44, 3001, Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium

    Jeroen Soete

  3. QMineral, Analysis and Consulting, Gaston Geenslaan 1, 3001, Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium

    Rieko Adriaens

  4. Department of Geological Engineering, Pamukkale University, Kınıklı Campus, 20070, Denizli, Turkey

    Cihan Aratman

Authors
  1. Michaël Verbiest
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeroen Soete
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ophélie Fay-Gomord
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rieko Adriaens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Cihan Aratman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Rudy Swennen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michaël Verbiest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Verbiest, M., Soete, J., Fay-Gomord, O. et al. Petrographical and mineralogical study of detrital strata near and within the Ballık travertine deposit (SW Turkey): architecture of a mixed clastic–carbonate succession. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 110, 1049–1071 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-021-02006-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-021-02006-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation