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Bedri Alpar, Istanbul University (Turkey)
Yildiz Altinok, Istanbul University (Turkey)
Engin Meric, Istanbul University (Turkey)
Selma Unlu, Istanbul University (Turkey)
Cenk Yaltirak, Istanbul Technical University (Turkey)
Naside Ozer, Istanbul University (Turkey)
Atike Nazik, Cukurova University (Turkey)
Niyazi Avsar, Cukurova University (Turkey)
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Tsunamis in the Eastern Mediterranean mainly arise during the earthquakes generated in the Hellenic arc, and occasionally from volcanic eruptions especially in the Aegean Sea and submarine landslides along the continental slopes. The tsunami zones in the region can be classified as the eastern Hellenic arc, offshore Kaž-Kalkan coastal area, western and eastern parts of the Cyprean arc and Levantine rift region including Iskenderun Bay. The best known tsunamis in the vicinity of East Hellenic Arc are 222 B.C., 68, 142, 21.07.365, 15.08.554, 08.08.1303, 03.05.1481, 03.10.1481, 1489, 04.1609, 31.01.1741, 28.02.1851, 03.04.1851, 23.05.1851, 13.02.1855, 13.11.1856, 26.06.1926, 09.02.1948, 09.07.1956, 24.03.2002, which had important impacts along the coasts of Rhodes and Dodecanese islands, Fethiye Bay and environs.
Due to their high landscape, the Mediterranean coasts of Turkey have a low preservation potential for tsunami deposits. The low lying coastal areas, such as the Dalaman and Patara delta beaches across the Rhodes pass, may hide some clues about historical tsunami impacts along these coasts. No systematic studies, however, are available across this range of coastal settings, making an understanding of tsunami impact imprecise. These long beaches are built up by a combination of physical processes, the fluvial and terrigenous input of the rivers and the alongshore wave and current regimes of the sea. It is well known that the city Patara was the largest and most important harbor and played a major role in the ancient Lycian civilization. The harbor was still active as a small estuary at the end XVth century.
Under the 6th frame EU project, TRANSFER, engine core and trench studies have been performed on the delta plains at Dalaman, Esenç>ay - Karadere and in a semi-dried lagoon in Patara. Micropaleontological analyses indicate foraminifera and ostracodes at some coarse grained sand layers from the Dalaman, Esençay and Patara trenches, representing marine and other environmental conditions, such as seasonal lakes, channels and rivers which dry in summer and then fill again in rainy season. The levels with Heteroeypris salina (Brady) observed in Esencay-1 trench show oligohaline and mesohaline environments, while Ilyoeypris biplieata (Koch) observed above these levels show recent wetlands developed seasonally or a delta mouth.
Paleo-environmental assessments were also tried to have been elucidated by distinctive biogeochemical researches on marine-sourced organic matters (e.g. lipid components, sterols and long chain ketones), geochemical properties (e.g. microbial signatures and algal remains), presence of marine biomarkers (e.g. 24-n-propylcholestane, multibranched acyclic C20 and C25 hydrocarbons) and deterministic ratios (e.g. abundance of S-containing compounds vs. pristane:phytane ratio) using GC/MS and FTIR analyses.
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