Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Postglacial floodings of the Marmara Sea: molluscs and sediments tell the story

  • Original
  • Published:
Geo-Marine Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The early Holocene marine flooding of the Black Sea has been the subject of intense scientific debate since the “Noah’s Flood” hypothesis was proposed in the late 1990s. The chronology of the flooding is not straightforward because the connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea involves the intermediate Marmara Sea Basin via two sills (Dardanelles and Bosphorus). This study explores the chronology of late Pleistocene–Holocene flooding by examining sedimentary facies and molluscs from 24 gravity cores spanning shelf to slope settings in the southern Marmara Sea Basin. A late Pleistocene Ponto-Caspian (Neoeuxinian) mollusc association is found in 12 of the cores, comprising 14 mollusc species and dominated by brackish (oligohaline–lower mesohaline) endemic taxa (dreissenids, hydrobiids). The Neoeuxinian association is replaced by a Turritella–Corbula association at the onset of the Holocene. The latter is dominated by marine species, several of which are known to thrive under dysoxic conditions in muddy bottoms. This association is common in early Holocene intervals as well as sapropel intervals in younger Holocene strata. It is an indicator of low-salinity outflows from the Black Sea into the Marmara Sea that drive stratification. A marine Mediterranean association (87 species) represents both soft bottom and hard substrate faunas that lived in well-ventilated conditions and upper mesohaline–polyhaline salinities (ca. 25 psu). Shallower areas were occupied by hard substrate taxa and phytopdetritic communities, whereas deeper areas had soft bottom faunas. The middle shelf part of the northern Gemlik Gulf has intervals with irregular and discontinuous sedimentary structures admixed with worn Neoeuxinian and euryhaline Mediterranean faunas. These intervals represent reworking events (slumping) likely related to seismic activity rooted in the North Anatolian Fault system. The core data and faunas indicate an oscillating postglacial sea-level rise and phases of increased/decreased ventilation in the Marmara Sea during the Holocene, as well as palaeobiogeographic reorganisations of Ponto-Caspian and Mediterranean water bodies since the latest Pleistocene (<30 ka). The findings contribute to arguments against a single catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea at about 7.5 ka (Noah’s Flood).

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aksu AE, Yaşar D, Mudie PJ (1995a) Paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic conditions leading to development of sapropel layer S1 in the Aegean Sea basins. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 116:71–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aksu AE, Yaşar D, Mudie PJ, Gillespie H (1995b) Late glacial-Holocene paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic evolution of the Aegean Sea: micropaleontological and stable isotopic evidence. Mar Micropaleontol 25:1–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aksu AE, Hiscott RN, Yaşar D (1999) Oscillating Quaternary water levels of the Marmara Sea and vigorous outflow into the Aegean Sea from the Marmara Sea–Black Sea drainage corridor. Mar Geol 153:275–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aksu AE, Hiscott RN, Yaşar D, Işler FI, Marsh S (2002a) Seismic stratigraphy of Late Quaternary deposits from the southwestern Black Sea shelf: evidence for non-catastrophic variations in sea-level during the last 10000 yr. Mar Geol 190:61–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aksu AE, Hiscott RN, Kamiski MA, Mudie PJ, Gillespie E, Abrajano T, Yaşar D (2002b) Late glacial - Holocene oceanography of the Black sea and Marmara sea: stable isotopic, foraminiferal and coccolith evidence. Mar Geol 190:119–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aksu AE, Hiscott RN, Mudie PJ, Rochon A, Kaminski MA, Abrajano T, Yaşar D (2002c) Persistent outflow from the Black sea to the Eastern Mediterranean contradicts Noah’s flood hypothesis. GSA Today 12(5):4–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Algan O, Çağatay N, Tchepalyga A, Ongan D, Eastoe C, Gökaşan E (2001) Stratigraphy of the sediment infill in Bosphorus Strait: water exchange between the Black and Mediterranean Seas during the last glacial Holocene. Geo-Mar Lett 20:209–218. doi:10.1007/s003670000058

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrussov NÝ (1896) Expedition of ‘Selanica’ in the Sea of Marmara in 1894 (in Russian). In: Marmara Sea. Notes on Russian Islands geography, vol 33, no 2

  • Andrussov N (1900) Bosphorus and Dardanelles. Annuaries Géol Minéral Russie 4:3–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Anistratenko VV (2008) Evolutionary trends and relationships in hydrobiids (Mollusca, Caenogastropoda) of the Azov-Black Sea Basin in the light of their comparative morphology and paleozoogeography. Zoosystemat Evol 84(2):129–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antoniadou C, Koursoubas D, Chintiroglou CC (2005) Mollusca fauna from infralittoral hard substrate assemblages in the North Aegean Sea. Belg J Zool 135(2):119–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Arkhangel’skiy AD, Strakhov NM (1938) Geological structure and the history of the Black Sea development (in Russian). Academy of Science of the USSR, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Arslanov KA, Yanina TA, Chepalyga AL, Svitoch AA, Makshaev RR, Maksimov FE, Chernov SB, Tertychniy NI, Starikova AA (2015) On the age of the Khvalynian deposits of the Caspian Sea coasts according to 14C and 230Th/234U methods. Quat Int. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.05.067

    Google Scholar 

  • Badertscher S, Fleitmann D, Cheng H, Edwards RL, Göktürk OM, Zumbühl A, Leuenberge M, Tüysüz O (2011) Pleistocene water intrusions from the Mediterranean and Caspian seas into the Black Sea. Nat Geosci 4:236–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Badgasaryan KG, Tatishvili KG, Kazachashvili ZR, Muschelishvili LV, Badzoshvili CI, Achvelidiani EG, Zhgenti EM, Taktakishvili IG, Kvalishvili GA (1966) Guide to the ecology of marine bivalves (in Russian). Nauka, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Bahr A, Lamy F, Arz H, Kuhlman H, Wefer G (2005) Late glacial to Holocene climate and sedimentary history in the NW Black Sea. Mar Geol 214:309–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bahr A, Arz H, Lamy F, Wefer G (2006) Late glacial to Holocene paleoenvironmental evolution of the Black Sea, reconstructed with stable oxygen isotope records obtained on ostracod shells. Earth Planet Sci Lett 241:863–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balabanov IP, Izmailov YA (1988) Changes in the Black and Azov Seas level and hydrochemical regime over the last 20 ka (in Russian). Vodnye Resursy 6:54–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballard RD, Coleman DF, Rosenberg GD (2000) Further evidence of abrupt Holocene drowning of the Black Sea shelf. Mar Geol 110:253–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barka A, Kadinsky-Cade K (1988) Strike-slip fault geometry in Turkey and its influence on earthquake activity. Tectonics 7:663–684

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertrand S, Doner L, Akçer Ön S, Sancar Ü, Schudack U, Mischke S, Çağatay MN, Leroy SAG (2011) Sedimentary record of coseismic subsidence in Hersek coastal lagoon (Izmit Bay, Turkey) and the late Holocene activity of the North Anatolian Fault. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 12(6):1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bezrodnykh YP, Romanyuk BF, Deliya SV, Magomedov RD, Sorokin VM, Parunin OB, Babak EV (2004) Biostratigraphy and structure of the Upper Quaternary deposits and some paleogeographic features of the north Caspian region. Stratigr Geol Correl 12:102–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Borja A, Franco J, Pérez V (2000) A marine biotic index to establish the ecological quality of soft-bottom benthos within European estuarine and coastal environments. Mar Pollut Bull 40(12):1100–1114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brissac T, Rodrigues CF, Gros O, Duperron S (2011) Characterization of bacterial symbioses in Myrtea sp. (Bivalvia: Lucinidae) and Thyasira sp. (Bivalvia: Thyasiridae) from a cold seep in the eastern Mediterranean. Mar Ecol 32:198–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büyükmeriç Y (2015) Late Neoeuxinian – Early Holocene mollusc and sedimentary records in the Marmara Sea show the dynamic nature of postglacial flooding (NW Turkey). In: Abstr Vol 3rd Plenary Meet Field Trip IGCP 610, From the Caspian to Mediterranean: Environmental Change and Human Response during the Quaternary, 22–30 September 2015. Astrakhan, Russia, pp 49–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Büyükmeriç Y, Wesselingh FP, Alçiçek MC (2015) Middle–late Pleistocene marine molluscs from Izmit Bay area (eastern Marmara Sea, Turkey) and the nature of Marmara – Black Sea corridors. Quat Int. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.07.020

    Google Scholar 

  • Çağatay MN, Algan O, Sakınç M, Eastoe C, Egesel L, Balkıs N, Ongan D, Caner H (1999) A Mid–Late Holocene sapropelic sediment unit from the southern Marmara shelf and its palaeoceanographic significance. Quat Sci Rev 18:531–540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Çağatay MN, Görür N, Algan O, Eastoe C, Chepalyga A, Ongan D, Kuhn T, Kuşçu İ (2000) Late Glacial- Holocene palaeoeanography of the Sea of Marmara: timing of connections with the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. Mar Geol 167:191–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Çağatay MN, Görür N, Polonia A, Demirbağ E, Sakınç M, Cormier MH, Capotondi L, McHugh C, Emre Ö, Eriş K (2003) Sea-level changes and depositional environments in the İzmit Gulf, eastern Marmara Sea, during the late glacial-Holocene period. Mar Geol 202:159–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Çağatay MN, Eriş K, Ryan WBF, Sancar Ü, Polonia A, Akçer S, Biltekin D, Gasperini L, Görür N, Lericolais G, Bard E (2009) Late Pleistocene-Holocene evolution of the northern shelf of the Sea of Marmara. Mar Geol 265:87–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Çağatay MN, Wulf S, Sancar Ü, Özmaral A, Vidal L, Henry H, Appelt O, Gasperini L (2015) The tephra record from the Sea of Marmara for the last ca. 70 ka and its palaeoceanographic implications. Mar Geol 361:96–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chepalyga A (1995) Plio-Pleistocene Black sea basins and the connections with the Mediterranean (in Turkish). In: Meriç E (ed) Quaternary sequence of İzmit Bay. Deniz Harb Okulu Komutanlığı Basımevi, İstanbul, pp 303–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Chepalyga AL (2007) The Late glacial great flood in the Ponto-Caspian Basin. In: Yanko-Hombach V, Gilbert AS, Panin N, Dolukhanov PH (eds) The Black Sea Flood question. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 119–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaz RJ, Rosenberg R (1995) Marine benthic hypoxia: a review of its ecological effects and the behavioural responses of benthic macrofauna. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 33:245–303

    Google Scholar 

  • Dominici S (2001) Taphonomy and paleoecology of shallow marine macrofossil assemblages in a collisional setting (Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene, Western Emilia, Italy). Palaios 16:336–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duperron S, Gaudron SM, Rodrigues CF, Cunha MR, Decker C, Olu K (2013) An overview of chemosynthetic symbioses in bivalves from the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Biogeosciences 10:3241–3267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ergin M, Kapur S, Karakaş Z, Akça E, Kangal Ö, Keskin Ş (1999) Grain size and clay mineralogy of Late Quaternary sediments on a tectonically active shelf, the southern Sea of Marmara: clues to hydrographic, tectonic and climatic evolution. Geol J 34:199–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eriş KK, Ryan WBF, Çağatay MN, Sancar Ü, Lericolais G, Menot G, Bard E (2007) The timing and evolution of the post-glacial transgression across the Sea of Marmara shelf south of Istanbul. Mar Geol 243:57–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eriş KK, Ryan WBF, Çağatay MN, Sancar U, Lericolais G, Ménot G, Bard E (2008) Reply to comment on “The timing and evolution of the post-glacial transgression across the Sea of Marmara shelf south of İstanbul” by Hiscott et al. Mar Geol 248:228–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eriş KK, Çağatay MN, Akçer S, Gasperini L, Mart Y (2011) Late glacial to Holocene sea-level changes in the Sea of Marmara: new evidence from high-resolution seismics and core studies. Geo-Mar Lett 31:1–18. doi:10.1007/s00367-010-0211-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federov PV (1977) Late Quaternary history of the Black Sea and southern seas of Europe (in Russian). In: Kaplin PA, Shcherbakov FA (eds) Paleogeography and deposits of the Pleistocene of the southern Seas of the USSR. Nauka, Moscow, pp 25–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Federov PV (1978) The Ponto-Caspian Pleistocene (in Russian). Transactions of the Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Nauka, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrero-Mortara E, Montefameglio L, Novelli M, Opesso G, Pavia G, Tampieri R (1984) Catalogo dei tipi esemplari figurati della collezione Bellardi e Sacco. Parte II. Catal Museo Reg Sc Nat Torino 7

  • Gasperini L, Polonia A, Çağatay MN, Bortoluzzi G, Ferrante V (2011) Geological slip rates along the North Anatolian Fault in the Marmara region. Tectonics 30, TC6001. doi:10.1029/2011TC002906

    Google Scholar 

  • Gogou A, Bouloubassi I, Lykousis V, Arnaboldi M, Gaitani P, Meyers PA (2007) Organic geochemical evidence of abrupt late Glacial-Holocene climate changes in the North Aegean Sea. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 256:1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gökaşan E, Tur H, Ecevitoğlu B, Görüm T, Türker A, Tok B, Çağlak F, Birkan H, Şimşek M (2005) Evidence and implications of massive erosion along the Strait of İstanbul (Bosphorus). Geo-Mar Lett 25:324–342. doi:10.1007/s00367-005-0216-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gökaşan E, Tur H, Ecevitoğlu B, Görüm T, Türker A, Tok B, Birkan H (2006) Factors controlling the sea floor morphology of the Strait of İstanbul: evidence of an erosional event after last glacial maximum (in Turkish). Yerbilimleri (J Earth Sci Appl Res Centre Hacettepe Univ) 27(3):143–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Gökaşan E, Ergin M, Özyalvaç M, İbrahim Sur H, Tur H, Görüm T, Ustaömer T, Gül Batuk F, Alp H, Birkan H, Türker A, Gezgin E, Özturan M (2008) Factors controlling the morphological evolution of the Çanakkale Strait (Dardanelles, Turkey). Geo-Mar Lett 28:107–129. doi:10.1007/s00367-007-0094-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gökaşan E, Tur H, Ergin M, Görüm T, Gül Batuk F, Sağcı N, Ustaömer T, Emem O, Alp H (2010) Late Quaternary evolution of the Çanakkale Strait region (Dardanelles, NW Turkey): implications of a major erosional event for the postglacial Mediterranean-Marmara Sea connection. Geo-Mar Lett 30:113–131. doi:10.1007/s00367-009-0166-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golikov AN, Starobogatov YI (1966) Ponto-Caspian gastropods in the Azov-Black Sea basin (in Russian). Zool Zh 45:352–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Görür N, Çağatay MN, Sakınç M, Sümengen M, Şentürk K, Yaltırak C, Chepalyga A (1997) Origin of the Sea of Marmara as deduced from Neogene to Quaternary paleogeographic evolution of its frame. Int Geol Rev 39:342–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Görür N, Çağatay NM, Emre Ö, Alpar B, Sakınç M, İslamoğlu Y, Algan O, Erkal T, Keçer M, Akkök R, Karlık G (2001) Is the abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf at 7150 yr BP a myth? Mar Geol 176:65–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiscott RN, Aksu AE, Yaşar D, Kaminski MA, Mudie PJ, Kostylev VE, MacDonald JC, İşler FI, Lord AR (2002) Deltas south of the Bosphorus Strait record persistent Black Sea outflow to the Marmara Sea since ~10 ka. Mar Geol 190:95–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiscott RN, Aksu AE, Mudie PJ, Kaminski MA, Abrajano T, Yaşar D, Rochon N (2007) The Marmara Sea gateway since ~16 ky BP: non-catastrophic causes of palaeoceanographic events in the Black Sea at 8.4 and 7.15 ky BP. In: Yanko-Hombach V, Gilbert AS, Panin N, Dolukhanov PH (eds) The Black Sea Flood question. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 89–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Iljina LB (1966) The history of Gastropods of the Black Sea (in Russian). Trudy Paleontol Inst 110:1–228

    Google Scholar 

  • İmren C (2007) Examining the Sea of Marmara with active tectonics and deep seismic reflection data (in Turkish). General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration, Monograph Series 3. MTA, Ankara

  • İslamoğlu Y (2002) Neoeuxinian – Holocene molluscan fauna of the southern part of the Marmara Sea between Gemlik and Bandırma Bay (NW Turkey). In: Yılmaz A (ed) Oceanography of the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea - Similarities and differences of two interconnected basins. TÜBİTAK Publishers, Ankara, pp 953–960

    Google Scholar 

  • İslamoğlu Y (2009) Middle Pleistocene bivalves of the İznik lake basin (Eastern Marmara, NW Turkey) and a new paleobiogeographical approach. Int J Earth Sci 98:1981–1990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Islamoğlu Y, Chepalyga AL (1998) The environmental changes determined with Molluscan assemblages during the Neoeuxinian-Holocene stages in the Sea of Marmara. Geol Bull Turkey 41:55–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivanova EV, Marret F, Zenina MA, Murdmaa IO, Chepalyga AL, Bradley LR, Schornikov EI, Levchenko OV, Zyryanova MI (2015) The Holocene Black Sea reconnection to the Mediterranean Sea: new insights from the northeastern Caucasian shelf. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 427:41–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaminski MA, Aksu AE, Hiscott RN, Box M, Al-Salameen M, Filipescu S (2002) Late glacial to Holocene benthic foraminifera in the Marmara Sea. Mar Geol 190:165–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kantor YI, Sysoev AV (2006) Marine and brackish water Gastropoda of Russia and adjacent countries: an illustrated catalogue. KMK Scientific Press, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerey IE, Meriç E, Tunoğlu C, Kelling G, Brenner RL, Doğan AÜ (2004) Black Sea - Marmara Sea Quaternary connections: new data from the Bosphorus, İstanbul, Turkey. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 204:277–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kevrekidis T, Wilke T, Mogias A (2005) When DNA puts ecological works back on the right track: genetic assessment and distribution patterns of mudsnail populations in the Evros Delta lagoons. Arch Hydrobiol 162:19–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kislov AV, Panin A, Toropov P (2014) Current status and palaeostages of the Caspian Sea as a potential evaluation tool for climate model simulations. Quat Int 345:48–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitching JA, Ebling FJ, Gable JC, Hoare R, Mcleod AAQR, Norton TA (1976) The ecology of Lough Ine: XIX—Seasonal changes in the western trough. J Anim Ecol 45:731–758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koral H, Öncel AO (1995) Structural and seismological features of the Izmit Bay (in Turkish). Jeofizik 9:79–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Koşal-Şahin S, Yıldırım Z (2007) The mollusk fauna of Lake Sapanca (Turkey: Marmara) and some physico-chemical parameters of their abundance. Turk J Zool 31:47–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosarev AN, Yablonskaya EA (1994) The Caspian Sea. Academic Press, The Hague

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotthoff U, Pross J, Muller UC, Peyron O, Schmiedl G, Schultz H, Bordon A (2008) Climate dynamics in the borderlands of the Aegean Sea during formation of sapropel S1 deduced from a marine pollen record. Quat Sci Rev 27:832–845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuşçu İ, Okamura M (eds) (2008) Offshore researches in the Izmit Gulf after the August 1999 earthquake (in Turkish). General Directorate of Mineral and Research Exploration, Monograph Series 4. MTA, Ankara

  • Lericolais G, Popescu I, Guichard F, Popescu SM (2007) Water-level fluctuations in the Black Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum. In: Yanko-Hombach V, Gilbert AS, Panin N, Dolukhano PM (eds) The Black Sea Flood question: Changes in coastline, climate, and human settlement. Springer, Berlin, pp 437–452

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Major C, Ryan W, Lericolais G, Hajdas I (2002) Constraints on Black Sea outflow to the Sea of Marmara during the last glacial-interglacial transition. Mar Geol 190:19–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Major CO, Goldstein SL, Ryan WBF, Lericolais G, Piotrowski AM, Hajdas I (2006) The co-evolution of Black Sea level and composition through the last deglaciation and its paleoclimatic significance. Quat Sci Rev 25(17-18):2031–2047

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malatesta A (1960) Malacofauna pleistocenica di Grammichele (Sicilia). Memorie per servire alla descrizione della carta geologica d’Italia 12:1–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Malatesta A (1974) Malacofauna Pliocenica Umbra. Memorie per servire alla descrizione della carta geologica d’Italia 13:1–498

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews J, Van der Velde G, Bij de Vaate A, Collas FPL, Koopman KR, Leuven RSEW (2014) Rapid range expansion of the invasive quagga mussel in relation to zebra mussel presence in The Netherlands and Western Europe. Biol Invasions 16:23–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McHugh CMG, Gurung D, Giosan L, Ryan WBF, Mart Y, Sancar Ü, Burckle L, Çağatay MN (2008) The last reconnection of the Marmara Sea (Turkey) to the World Ocean: a paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic perspective. Mar Geol 255:64–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mischke S, Schudack U, Bertrand S, Leroy SAG (2012) Ostracods from a Marmara Sea lagoon (Turkey) as tsunami indicators. Quat Int 261:156–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nazik A, Meriç E, Avşar N, Ünlü S, Esenli V, Gökaşan E (2011) Possible waterways between the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea in the late Quaternary: evidence from ostracod and foraminifer assemblages in lakes İznik and Sapanca, Turkey. Geo-Mar Lett 31:75–86. doi:10.1007/s00367-010-0216-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nevesskaja LA (1963) Guide to the identification of bivalves from Quaternary marine sediments of the Black Sea. Transactions of the Paleontological Institute, vol 96. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Nevesskaja LA (1965) Late Quaternary bivalve molluscs of the Black Sea, their systematics and ecology (in Russian). Trudy paleontol Inst Akademii Nauk SSSR 105. Nauka, Moscow

  • Nevesskaja LA (1974) Molluscan shells in deep-water sediments of Black Sea. In: Degens ET, Ross DA (eds) The Black Sea – Geology, chemistry and biology, vol 20, AAPG Mem., pp 349–352

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen JK, Hanken N-M, Nielsen JK, Hansen KS (2006) Biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of the marine Pleistocene of Rhodes, Greece: Scleractinia, Serpulidae, Mollusca and Brachiopoda. Bull Geosci 81(3):173–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orlova MI, Therriault TW, Antonov PI, Shcherbina GK (2005) Invasion ecology of quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis): a review of evolutionary and phylogenetic impacts. Aquat Ecol 39:401–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perna RL (2003) The Quaternary deep-sea protobranch fauna from the Mediterranean: composition, depth-related distribution and changes. Boll Malacologico 39(1-4):17–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Popov GI (1983) Pleistocene of the Black Sea – Caspian Sea (in Russian). Nauka, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Rohling EJ (1994) Review and new aspects concerning the formation of Mediterranean sapropels. Mar Geol 122:1–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohling EJ, Mayewski PA, Abu-Zied RH, Casford JSL, Hayes A (2002) Holocene atmosphere-ocean interactions: records from Greenland and the Aegean Sea. Clim Dyn 18:587–593

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohling EJ, Foster GL, Grant KM, Marino G, Roberts AP, Tamisiea ME, Williams F (2014) Sea-level and deep-sea-temperature variability over the past 5.3 million years. Nature 508:477–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohling EJ, Marino G, Grant KM (2015) Mediterranean climate and oceanography, and the periodic development of anoxic events (sapropels). Earth Sci Rev 143:62–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg G, Ludyanskiy ML (1994) A nomenclature review of Dreissena (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae), with identification of the Quagga mussel as Dreissena bugensis. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 51:1474–1484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rueda J, Salas C (2003) Seasonal variation of a molluscan assemblage living in a Caulerpa prolifera meadow within the inner Bay of Cádiz (SW Spain). Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 57:909–918

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rueda JL, Fernández-Casado M, Salas C, Gofas S (2001) Seasonality in a taxocoenosis of molluscs from soft bottoms in the Bay of Cádiz (southern Spain). J Mar Biol Assoc UK 81:903–912

    Google Scholar 

  • Rueda JL, Gofas S, Urra J, Salas C (2009) A highly diverse molluscan assemblage associated with eelgrass beds (Zosterina marina L.) in the Alboran sea: microhabitat preference, feeding guilds and biogeographical distribution. Sci Mar 73(4):679–700

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan WBF, Pitman WC (1998) Noah’s Flood: the new scientific discoveries about events that changed history. Simon & Schuster, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan WBF, Pitman WC, Major CO, Shimkus K, Maskalenko V, Jones GA, Dimitrov P, Görür N, Sakınç M, Yüce H (1997) An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf. Mar Geol 138:119–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan WBF, Major CO, Lericolais C, Goldstein SL (2003) Catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 31:525–554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacco F (1890–1904) I Molluschi dei terreni terziarii del Piemonte e della Liguria. Royal Accademia delle Scienze Torino 18:1–51

  • Sarıkavak K, Yurtsever TŞ, Yiğit F, Hakyemez HY, Karagöz Ş, Sakitaş A, Demirci Ö (2002) Research project of the southern shelf of the Marmara Sea (in Turkish). General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration, pre-result report Geological Research Department, MTA, Ankara

  • Schütt H (1988) The Danubian character of the mollusc fauna of the Sapanca Gölü (Marmara Region, Turkey). Zool Middle East 2:79–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorokin VM (2008) Correlation of upper Quaternary deposits and paleogeography of the Black and Caspian seas. Stratigr Geol Corr 19:563–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sperling M, Schmiedl G, Hemleben C, Emeis KC, Erlenkeuser H, Grootes PM (2003) Black Sea impact on the formation of eastern Mediterranean sapropel S1? Evidence from the Marmara Sea. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 190:9–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley DC, Blanpied C (1980) Late Quaternary water exchange between the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Nature 285:537–541

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svitoch AA (2007) About the nature of the Khvalynian transgression of the Caspian Sea. Oceanology 47(2):304–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svitoch AA (2010) The Neoeuxinian basin of the Black Sea and the Khvalinian transgression of the Caspian Sea. Quat Int 225:230–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szarowska M, Falniowski A (2014) Ventrosia maritima (Milaschewitsch, 1916) and V. ventrosa (Montagu, 1803) in Greece: molecular data as a source of information about species ranges within the Hydrobiinae (Caenogastropoda: Truncatelloidea). Folia Malacologia 22(1):61–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taviani M, Wesselingh FP, Angeletti L, Çağatay N, Gasperini L, Polonia A (2013) Changing biogeographic identity: Mediterranean vs Pontocaspian mollusc turnover in the record of the Gulf of Gemlik marks the post-glacial marine inundation of a secluded embayment of the Sea of Marmara. In: Abstr Vol IGCP 610, From the Caspian to Mediterranean: Environmental Change and Human Response during the Quaternary, 12–19 October 2013. Tbilisi, Georgia, pp 139–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Taviani M, Angeletti L, Çağatay MN, Gasperini L, Polonia A, Wesselingh FP (2014) Sedimentary and faunal signatures of the post-glacial marine drowning of the Pontocaspian Gemlik “lake” (Sea of Marmara). Quat Int 345:11–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triantaphyllou MV (2014) Coccolithophore assemblages during the Holocene Climatic Optimum in the NE Mediterranean (Aegean and northern Levantine Seas, Greece): paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic implications. Quat Int 345:56–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triantaphyllou MV, Ziveri P, Gogou A, Marino G, Lykousis V, Bouloubassi I, Emeis KC, Kouli K, Dimiza M, Rosell-Mele A, Papanikolaou M, Katsouras G, Nunez N (2009) Late Glacial-Holocene climate variability at the south-eastern margin of the Aegean Sea. Mar Geol 266:182–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triantaphyllou MV, Gogou A, Dimiza MD, Kostopoulou S, Parinos C, Roussakis G, Geraga M, Bouloubassi I, Fleitmann D, Zervakis V, Velaoras D, Diamantopoulou A, Sampatakaki A, Lykousis V (2016) Holocene Climatic Optimum centennial-scale paleoceanography in the NE Aegean (Mediterranean Sea). Geo-Mar Lett 36:51–66. doi:10.1007/s00367-015-0426-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vidal L, Ménot G, Joly C, Bruneton H, Rostek F, Çağatay MN, Major C, Bard E (2010) Hydrology in the Sea of Marmara during the last 23 ka: implications for timing of Black Sea connections and sapropel deposition. Paleoceanography 25, PA1205. doi:10.1029/2009PA001735

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilke T, Albrecht C, Anistratenko V, Koşal Şahin S, Yıldırım Z (2007) Testing biogeographical hypotheses in space and time: faunal relationships of the putative ancient Lake Eğirdir in Asia Minor. J Biogeogr 34(10):1807–1821

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong HK, Lüdmann T, Uluğ A, Görür N (1995) The Sea of Marmara: a plate boundary sea in escape tectonic regime. Tectonophysics 244:231–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yaltırak C (2002) Tectonic evolution of the Marmara Sea and its surroundings. Mar Geol 190:493–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yaltırak C, Sakınç M, Aksu AE, Hiscott RN, Galleb B, Ülgen UB (2002) Late Pleistocene uplift history along the southwestern Marmara Sea determined from raised coastal deposits and global sea-level variations. Mar Geol 190:283–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yaltırak C, Ülgen UB, Zabcı C, Franz SO, Ön SA, Sakınç M, Çağatay MN, Alpar B, Öztürk K, Tunoğlu C, Ünlü S (2012) Discussion: a critique of Possible waterways between the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea in the late Quaternary: evidence from ostracod and foraminifer assemblages in lakes İznik and Sapanca, Turkey, Geo-Marine Letters, 2011. Geo-Mar Lett 32:267–274. doi:10.1007/s00367-011-0270-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yanina TA (2014) The Ponto-Caspian region: environmental consequences of climate change during the Late Pleistocene. Quat Int 345:88–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yanko VV (1990) Stratigraphy and paleogeography of the marine Pleistocene and Holocene deposits of the southern seas of the USSR. Mem Geol Soc Ital 44:167–187

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanko-Hombach V (2007) Controversy over Noah’s flood in the Black Sea: geological and foraminiferal evidence from the shelf. In: Yanko-Hombach V, Gilbert AS, Panin N, Dolukhanov PH (eds) The Black Sea Flood question. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 149–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanko-Hombach V, Gilbert AS, Dolukhanov PM (2007) Controversy over the great flood hypothesis in the Black Sea in light of geological, paleontological, and archaeological evidence. Quat Int 167–168:91–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yanko-Hombach V, Mudie PJ, Kadurin S, Larchenkov E (2014) Holocene marine transgression in the Black Sea: new evidence from the northwestern Black Sea shelf. Quat Int 345:100–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhadin VI (1965) Mollusks of fresh and brackish waters of the USSR. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow (translation of book originally published in Russian in 1952). Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study is part of a Turkish collaboration joint project between MTA and İTÜ (number TUBITAK YDABÇAG 241/G, sub-project of the National Marine Geological and Geophysical Programme on the Formation of the Marmara Sea: Tectonics and Sedimentation). The author thanks Ismail Kuşçu and Kerim Sarikavak (Marine Research Project leaders of MTA, now retired from MTA and Deputy General Director of MTA respectively), as well as Naci Görür and Namık Çağatay (Marine Research Project coordinators of ITU). Also acknowledged are the scientists, technicians and crew of the MTA R/V Sismik1 for their help in sampling during the cruise of May 2001. The author is grateful to the management of the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA/Ankara) for providing the opportunity to access the data. Sincere thanks go to Frank P. Wesselingh (Naturalis, Leiden, The Netherlands) for his valuable comments and editing of an earlier version of the manuscript, as well as to S. Popov, M. Taviani, two anonymous reviewers and the editors for other useful suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Engineering, Bülent Ecevit University, 67100, İncivez, Zonguldak, Turkey

    Yeşim Büyükmeriç

Authors
  1. Yeşim Büyükmeriç
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yeşim Büyükmeriç.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest with third parties.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(PDF 1116 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Büyükmeriç, Y. Postglacial floodings of the Marmara Sea: molluscs and sediments tell the story. Geo-Mar Lett 36, 307–321 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-016-0446-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-016-0446-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation