Mid-Ordovician (Late Darriwilian) Conodonts from the Southern-Central Taurides, Turkey: Geological Implications

Authors: HÜSEYİN KOZLU, M. CEMAL GÖNCÜOĞLU, GRACIELA N. SARMIENTO, M. ALİ GÜL

Abstract: The Tekmen Member of the Seydişehir Formation of the Silifke-Aydıncık Nappe is exposed between the towns Silifke and Aydıncık, in the central Taurides, southern Turkey. The member is composed of sandy limestones with interbeds of reddish shales. Distinctive depositional features of the carbonates and associated siliciclastics are suggestive of a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic tempestite-type deposition in a shelf environment. The conodont fauna from the Tekmen Member includes taxa that are known from the Baltoscandian region and are referred to the Darriwilian, being the first Middle-Ordovician finding from Turkey. A late Darriwilian (late Lasnamägian to Uhakun) age migth be attributed to the Tekmen Member of the Seydişehir Formation. This new finding suggests that deposition of the tempestites of the Seydişehir Formation within the Gondwanan Tauride Platform was not terminated during the late Arenig but continued until late Llanvirnian. Additionally, it seems that the erosional event between the Middle and Late Ordovician may have important palaeogeographic implications for the Early Palaeozoic evolution of the Taurides in relation to the opening of the Palaeotethys later in Early Silurian.

Keywords: middle-Ordovician, palaeogeography, Taurides, Turkey, stratigraphy, Conodonts

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