Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Distribution of clay minerals in surface sediments of the Aegean Sea: a compilation

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Extensive published data sets and some new data on the clay mineral composition of surface sediments in the Aegean Sea, northeastern Mediterranean Sea, have been compiled in order to map the distribution patterns of clay mineral assemblages and to decipher source areas and transport paths. We distinguished six provinces, a Northwest Aegean Province, a Marmara-Dardanelles Province, a West Turkey Province, a Southeast Aegean Province, a Kithira Province and a Central Aegean Province. The clay mineral assemblages in the coastal and shelf areas carry the signature of the riverine sediment discharge from southeast Europe and Turkey, respectively. The southern Aegean Sea is probably influenced by the River Nile discharge and transport of clay minerals by surface currents. The clay minerals in the central Aegean Sea form a mixed assemblage comprising components of the other assemblages. A dispersion and dilution of clay minerals by surface currents is obvious.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

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

  • Adamson DA, Gasse F, Street FA, Williams MAJ (1980) Late Quaternary history of the Nile. Nature 288:50–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aksu AE, Yasar D, Mudie PJ (1995) Origin of glacial-Holocene hemipelagic sediments in the Aegean Sea: clay mineralogy and carbonate cementation. Mar Geol 123:33–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bastürk Ö, Saydam C, Salihoglu I, Yilmaz A (1986) Oceanography of the Turkish Straits, vol. III. Health of the Turkish straits: chemical and environmental aspects of the Sea of Marmara. Reports of Erdemli Institute of Marine Science, Icel, Turkey, pp 1–86

  • Bayhan E, Ergin M, Temel A, Keskin S (2001) Sedimentology and mineralogy of surficial bottom deposits from the Aegean-Canakkale-Marmara transition (Eastern Mediterranean): effects of marine and terrestrial factors. Mar Geol 175:297–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bergametti G, Gomes L, Remoukadi E, Desbois M, Martin D, Buat-Ménard P (1989) Present transport and deposition patterns of African dust to the North-Western Mediterranean. In: Leinen M, Sarnthein M (eds) Paleoclimatology and paleometeorology: modern and past patterns of global atmospheric transport. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, pp 227–252

    Google Scholar 

  • Biscaye PE (1965) Mineralogy and sedimentation of recent deep-sea clay in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas and oceans. Geol Soc Am Bull 76:803–832

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolle H-J (ed) (2003) Mediterranean climate. Regional climate studies. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 1–372

  • Cagatay MN, Görür N, Algan O, Eastoe C, Tchapalyga A, Ongan D, Kuhn T, Kuscu I (2000) Late Glacial– Holocene palaeoceanography of the Sea of Marmara: timing of connections with the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. Mar Geol 167:191–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chamley H (1989) Clay Mineralogy. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York , pp 1–623

    Google Scholar 

  • Chester R, Baxter GG, Behairy AKA, Connor KA, Cross D, Elderfield H, Padgham RC (1977) Soil-sized eolian dusts from the lower troposphere of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Mar Geol 24:201–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conispoliatis N (1984) Study of the Recent Sediments of the Strymonikos Gulf. Ph.D. thesis, National Technical University, Athens, pp 1–109 (in Greek with English abstract)

  • Conispoliatis N, Lykousis V (1986) Mineralogy of the surficial sediments of Kavala Bay, northern Aegean Sea. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 23:739–749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conispoliatis N, Perissoratis C (1987) Distribution and origin of clay minerals in the bottom sediments of the Ierissos bay. Proceedings of the 2nd Hellenic Symp Oceanography and Fishery, Athens, pp 485–492 (in Greek)

  • D’Almeida GA (1986) A model for Saharan dust transport. J Clim Appl Meteorol 25:903–916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diekmann B, Kuhn G, Mackensen A, Petschick R, Fütterer DK, Gersonde R, Rühlemann C, Niebler HS (1999) Kaolinite and chlorite as tracers of modern and late Quaternary deep water circulation in the South Atlantic and the adjoining Southern Ocean. In: Fischer G, Wefer G (eds). Use of proxies in paleoceanography: examples from the South Atlantic. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York , pp 285–313

    Google Scholar 

  • DSI (1987) Su Kalitesi Gözlem Yilligi (1983–1984) (in Turkish), Ankara, Turkey, pp 1–615

  • Duman M, Avci M, Duman S, Demirkurt E, Düzbastilar MK (2004) Surficial sediment distribution and net sediment transport pattern in Izmir Bay, western Turkey. Cont Shelf Res 24:965–981

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrmann WU, Melles M, Kuhn G, Grobe H (1992) Significance of clay mineral assemblages in the Antarctic Ocean. Mar Geol 107:249–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • EIE (1982) Sediment data and sediment transport amount for surface water in Turkey. Publ. No. 82–22, pp 1–283

  • EIE (1993) Türkiye akarsularinda sediment gözlemlerive sediment tasinim miktarlari. Publ. No. 93–59, pp 1–615

  • EIE (2000) Turkiye akarsularinda suspanse sediment gozlemleri ve sediment rasinim miktarlari (suspended sediment data and sediment transport amount for surface waters in Turkey). EIEI Genel Müdür Yayin, 17–20

  • Ergin M, Bodur MN, Ediger V (1991) Distribution of surficial shelf sediments in the northeastern and southwestern parts of the Sea of Marmara: Strait and canyon regimes of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus. Mar Geol 96:313–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (2004) Coastal erosion - Evaluation of the need for action. Living with coastal erosion in Europe: sediment and space for sustainability. Directorate General Environment, pp 1–25

  • Foucault A, Mélières F (2000) Palaeoclimatic cyclicity in central Mediterranean pliocene sediments: the mineralogical signal. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 158:311–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geraga M, Tsaila-Monopolis S, Ioakim C, Papatheodorou G, Ferentinos G (2005) Short-term climate changes in the southern Aegean Sea over the last 48,000 years. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 220:311–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gingele FX (1995) Holocene climatic optimum in Southwest Africa—evidence from the marine clay mineral record. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 122:77–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffin JJ, Windom H, Goldberg ED (1968) The distribution of clay minerals in the World Ocean. Deep-Sea Res 15:433–459

    Google Scholar 

  • Holeman JN (1968) The sediment yield of major rivers of the world. Water Resour Res 4:737–747

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobshagen V (1986) Geologie von Griechenland. Beiträge zur regionalen Geologie der Erde 19. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin, pp 1–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Karageorgis A, Anagnostou Ch, Sioulas A, Chronis G, Papathanassiou E (1998) Sediment geochemistry and mineralogy in Milos bay, SW Kyklades, Aegean Sea, Greece. J Mar Syst 16:269–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karageorgis AP, Kaberi HG, Tengberg A, Zervakis V, Hall POJ, Anagnostou C (2003) Comparison of particulate matter distribution, in relation to hydrography, in the mesotrophic Skagerrak and the oligotrophic northeastern Aegean Sea. Cont Shelf Res 23:1787–1809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karageorgis AP, Anagnostou CL, Kaberi H (2005) Geochemistry and mineralogy of the NW Aegean Sea surface sediments: implications for river runoff and anthropogenic impact. Appl Geochem 20:69–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kazanci N, Leroy S, Ileri Ö, Emre Ö, Kibar M, Öncel S (2004) Late Holocene erosion in NW Anatolia from sediments of Lake Manyas, Lake Ulubat and the southern shelf of the Marmara Sea, Turkey. Catena 57:277–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein B, Roether W, Manca BB, Bregant D, Beitzel V, Kovacevic V, Luchetta A (1999) The large deep water transient in the Eastern Mediterranean. Deep-Sea Res I 46:371–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krom MD, Cliff RA, Eijsink LM, Herut B, Chester R (1999) The characterisation of Saharan dusts and Nile particulate matter in surface sediments from the Levantine basin using Sr isotopes. Mar Geol 155:319–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kubilay NN, Sydam AC, Yemenicioglu S, Kelling G, Kapur S, Karaman C, Akca E (1997) Seasonal chemical and mineralogical variability of atmospheric particles in the coastal region of the Northeastern Mediterranean. Catena 28:313–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lacombe H, Tchernia P (1972) Charactère hydrologiques et circulation des eaux en Méditerranée. In: Stanley DJ (eds) The Mediterranean Sea: a natural sedimentation laboratory. Dowden Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, Pa., pp 25–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Lykousis V, Chronis G (1989) Mechanisms of sediment transport and deposition: sediment sequences and accumulation during the Holocene on the Thermaikos Plateau, the continental slope, and basin (Sporadhes Basin), northwestern Aegean Sea, Greece. Mar Geol 87:15–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lykousis V, Collins MB, Ferentinos G (1981) Modern sedimentation in the N.W. Aegean Sea. Mar Geol 43:111–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lykousis V, Chronis G, Tselepides A, Price NB, Theocharis A, Siokou-Frangou I, Van Wambeke F, Danovaro R, Stavrakakis S, Duineveld G, Georgopoulos D, Ignatiades L, Souvermezoglou A, Voutsinou-Talidouri F (2002) Major outputs of the recent multidisciplinary biogeochemical researches undertaken in the Aegean Sea. J Mar Syst 33–34:313–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milliman JD, Syvitski PM (1992) Geomorphic/tectonic control of sediment discharge to the ocean: the importance of small mountainous rivers. J Geol 100:525–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller G, Stoffers P (1974) Mineralogy and petrology of Black Sea basin sediments. In: Degens ET, Ross DA (eds) The Black Sea—geology, chemistry and biology. AAPG Mem 20:200–248

  • Panin N, Jipa D (2002) Danube river sediment input and its interaction with the northwestern Black Sea. Estuar. Coast Shelf Sci 54:551–562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pehlivanoglou K, Tsirambides A, Trontsios G (2000) Origin and distribution of clay minerals in the Alexandroupolis Gulf, Aegean Sea, Greece. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 51:61–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perissoratis C, Conispoliatis N (2003) The impacts of sea-level changes during the latest Pleistocene and Holocene times on the morphology of the Ionian and Aegean seas (SE Alpine Europe). Mar Geol 196:145–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petschick R, Kuhn G, Gingele F (1996) Clay mineral distribution in surface sediments of the South Atlantic: sources, transport, and relation to oceanography. Mar Geol 130:203–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickard GL, Emery WJ (1990) Descriptive physical oceanography. Pergamon, Oxford, pp 1–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinardi N, Masetti E (2000) Variability of the large scale general circulation of the Mediterranean Sea from observations and modelling: a review. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 158:153–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poulos SE, Collins MB, Shaw HF (1996) Deltaic sedimentation, including clay mineral deposition patterns, associated with small mountainous rivers and shallow marine embayments of Greece (SE Alpine Europe). J Coast Res 12:940–952

    Google Scholar 

  • Poulos SE, Chronis GT, Collins MB, Lykousis V (2000) Thermaikos Gulf coastal system, NW Aegean Sea: an overview of water/sediment fluxes in relation to air–land–ocean interactions and human activities. J Mar Syst 25:47–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pye K (1992) Aeolian dust transport and deposition over Crete and adjacent parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Earth Surface Processes Landforms 17:271–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quelennec RE, Kruc CB (1976) Nile suspended load and its importance for the Nile delta morphology. UNDP/UNESCO Proc of the Seminar on Nile Delta Sedimentation. Alexandria, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt, pp 1–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Roether W, Manca BB, Klein B, Bregant D, Georgopoulos D, Beitzel V, Kovacevic V, Luchetta A (1996) Recent changes in Eastern Mediterranean deep waters. Science 271:333–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw HF (1978) The clay mineralogy of the recent surface sediments drom the Cilicia Bason, northeastern Mediterranean. Mar Geol 26:M51–M58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley DJ, Wingerath JG (1996) Clay mineral distributions to interpret Nile cell provenance and dispersal, I. Lower River Nile to delta sector. J Coast Res 12:911–929

    Google Scholar 

  • Theocharis A, Gacic M, Kontoyiannis H (1998) Physical and dynamical processes in the coastal and shelf areas of the Mediterranean. Coastal Segment (27,S). In: Robinson AR, Brink KH (eds) The sea. Wiley, pp 863–887

  • Theocharis A, Nittis K, Kontoyiannis H, Papageorgiou E, Balapoulos E (1999) Climatic changes in the Aegean Sea influence the Eastern Mediterranean thermohaline circulation (1986–1997). Geophys Res Lett 26:1617–1620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Therianos AD (1974) The geographical distribution of river water supply in Greece (in Greek). Bull Geol Soc Greece 11:28–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Underwood MB, Pickering K, Gieskes JM, Kastner M, Orr R (1993) Sediment geochemistry, clay mineralogy and diagenesis: a synthesis of data from Leg 131 Nankai Trough. Proc ODP Sci Res 131:343–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Ünlüata Ü, Oguz T, Latif MA, Özsoy E (1990). On the physical oceanography of the Turkish Straits. In: Pratt LJ (ed) The physical oceanography of sea straits. NATO/ASI Series, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 25–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Venkatarathnam K, Ryan WBF (1971) Dispersal patterns of clay minerals in the sediments of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Mar Geol 11:261–282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weldeab S, Emeis K-C, Hemleben C, Siebel W (2002) Provenance of lithogenic surface sediments and pathways of riverine suspended mattern in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: evidence from 143Nd/144Nd and 87Sr/86Sr ratios. Chem Geol 186:139–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Windom HL (1976) Lithogenous material in marine sediments. In: Riley JP, Chester R (eds). Chemical oceanography, vol. 5. Academic, New York, pp 103–135

  • Wüst G (1961) On the vertical circulation of the Mediterranean Sea. J Geophys Res 66:3261–3271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yasar D (1989) Kücük Menderes deltasinin sedimantolojik evrimi. M.Sc. Thesis, Dokuz Eylül Univ., Inst. Mar. Sci. Technol., pp 1–82 (Unpubl.; in Turkish)

  • Zervakis V, Georgopoulos D, Drakopoulos PG (2000) The role of the North Aegean in triggering the recent Eastern Mediterranean climatic changes. J Geophys Res 105(C11):26103–26116

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) financially supported this study. The work of G.S. was supported by the Heisenberg programme of the DFG. We thank C. Hemleben for providing surface sediment samples. For comments on an earlier version of the paper we thank D. Leuschner. The paper benefited from the reviews by B. Diekmann and C. Robert.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geophysik und Geologie, Universität Leipzig, Talstrasse 35, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Werner Ehrmann, Gerhard Schmiedl, Yvonne Hamann & Tanja Kuhnt

Authors
  1. Werner Ehrmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gerhard Schmiedl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yvonne Hamann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tanja Kuhnt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Werner Ehrmann.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ehrmann, W., Schmiedl, G., Hamann, Y. et al. Distribution of clay minerals in surface sediments of the Aegean Sea: a compilation. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 96, 769–780 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-006-0119-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-006-0119-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation