New record of calcarenite in Hatay, Turkey: an evidence of the Late Pleistocene Eastern Mediterranean–Red Sea connection

Abstract

This study discusses the composition and age of calcarenite deposits and aeolianite overlying the upper Cretaceous ophiolites in the eastern Mediterranean north of the Asi River Delta. They record the Mediterranean–Red Sea water connection in the Late Pleistocene. Petrographic analysis and microfossil determination showed that these deposits are classified as micritic calcarenite and biocalcarenite, indicating deposition in a high-energy shoal environment and carbonate aeolianite with abundant rhizoliths as residuals of rootlet calcification. The invasive species of Amphistegina lobifera Larsen and Peneroplis pertusus (Forskal) found in the calcarenite and aeolianite make it clear that the Indo-Pacific Ocean waters reached the Levantine Sea basin during the periods MIS 5e and/or MIS 5c by following a palaeo-channel along the Gulf of Suez.