More than 5 km of a continuous stratigraphic sequence is exposed in the Kahramanmaraş basin in SE Turkey, with channelized elements and frontal splays from a slope-channel system. These deposits are contemporaneous with the latest stage of closure of the Neotethys Ocean during the continental collision between the Arabian and Anatolian plates (Middle-Upper Miocene,) with the consequent emplacement of allochthonous units over the Arabian Platform. As a result of the progressive oblique collision of the Arabian Plate several independent marine basins developed along the Assyrian suture zone: Adana Basin; Elaziğ Basin, and Kahramanmaraş Basin.
Mapping, logging and describing in detail the sedimentary architectures of the Alikayası slope-channel system. The preliminary results show a complex array of channelized elements with a wide range of 3D geometries, fill architectures, spatial relationships and pathways. A major erosive feature has been mapped in the form of a submarine canyon (approximately 2.5 km in width and 300 m in depth at its axis) cutting across previous channel complexes, and confining a channel-fill sequence of conglomeratic sandstones. Study of this system raises critical questions on the role of tectonics, climate and relative sea level changes over a range of scales.
The Adana basin contains two small sandy fan systems (Eastern and Western fans) with well-exposed turbidite-dominated sandy frontal splays; the basin margin displays associated feeder canyons. The frontal splay architecture is currently being worked on by Daniel Bayer (PhD student).