Sedimentological properties and depositional environments of the Holocene sequence in Yenikapı, İstanbul

Year 2019, Volume: 160 Issue: 160, 21 - 43, 27.12.2019

Meltem Sezerer Bulut M. Namık Yalçın , Oya Algan

https://doi.org/10.19111/bulletinofmre.502415

Abstract

During the
salvage excavations in the area of the former Theodosian harbor in
Yenikapı-İstanbul several ship wrecks from the Byzantine period, archaeological
objects from different periods    and a
Holocene aged sedimentary sequence have been uncovered. In this study the
lithological, lithostratigraphical and facies properties of the Holocene
sequence are investigated in detail and 
its depositional environment is determined. For this purpose along four
profiles (S1, S2, S3, S4) 14 different sections of a total thickness of 17.75 m
are studied and 100 samples are collected. The grain size distribution and
mineralogical composition of the samples are defined by sieve and sedigraph
analysis and by XRD method, respectively. Results of these analyses and facies
characteristics of this poorly known Holocene sequence are used for the definition
of the depositional environment. Accordingly, the marine sediments are
deposited in a near-shore environment, with a natural embayment or estuary transgressively.
Terrigenous and anthropogenic material carried by the Lycos River, at the mouth
of this natural embayment, resulted in first a regression and then a
high-energy fluvial system in the study area.

Keywords

Holocene, Sedimentology, Grain size distribution, Theodosian harbor, İstanbul

Thanks

We would like to thank to the Division of Scientific Research Projects of the Istanbul University (Project No:10025110), the NSF (National Science Foundation (Grant Nr. BNS 1236981) and Malcolm H. Wiener Foundation, which supported the MSc Thesis of M. Sezerer; to Prof. Peter Kuniholm and Dr. Charlotte Pearson (Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University) of Arizona, who contributed to the study with their suggestions; to Prof. Sinan Öngen, (Department of Geological Engineering of the Istanbul University) for his helps during mineralogical studies, and to Prof. Erol Sarı, (Institute of Marine Sciences and Management of the Istanbul University), for his helps during the laboratory studies. We also appreciate to Zeynep Kızıltan, the Director of Istanbul Archeological Museums who permitted this study in the excavation site, to all workers of the Yenikapı excavation site who helped during the study, to archeologists Mehmet Ali Polat and Sırrı Çömlekçi from the Directorate of Istanbul Archeological Museums and to Züleyha, Songül and Kadir for their helps who supported sampling stage of this study. We also offer our special thanks to Prof. Muhittin Görmüş, Assoc. Prof. M. Akif Sarıkaya and to another referee for their contributions, which helped improve the article.

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