Regional implications of structural and eustatic controls in the evolutionof submarine fans: an example from the Miocene Adana Basin, southern Turkey

Deep-sea fan development is generally thought to be controlled by a combina tion of changes in sea level, the shape and size of the basin in which the fans are growing, and the nature of the source area. The Early Miocene evol ution of the eastern Mediterranean involved significant accumulation of dee p-water elastic sediment in which the importance of each of these controlli ng factors can be evaluated. The deep-water elastic system located in the A dana Basin has been studied in detail. Two contemporaneous, small, radial, sand-rich submarine fans (one in the west and one in the east) exhibiting d ifferent scales, fan types and styles of deposition have been recognized wi thin the Cingoz turbidite sequence of the northern Adana Basin in southern Turkey. Sedimentological studies indicate that the fans were controlled ext ernally by tectonics and relative eustatic sea-level fall during late Serra vallian time, in combination with the nature of the source area to the nort h. The internal architectural stacking patterns and external geometry of th e two fan systems were strongly affected by the interaction of local tecton ics and turbidity current pathways, including a major topographic confineme nt to the southeast that forced a vertical aggradation of the eastern fan a nd an east-west elongation of the western fan. This paper describes a class ic example of a well-exposed deep-water elastic system where (1) tectonical ly driven sea-floor topography, (2) syn-sedimentary tectonism and (3) eusta tic rise in sea level, are the primary controls on its development.