MOLLUSCAN ASSEMBLAGE AND PALEOECOLOGY OF LOWER MIOCENE SEQUENCES OF THE MUNZUR MOUNTAINS (EASTERN ANATOLIA, TURKEY)

Indexed In

Volume 155 / 2017

Authors:

Müjde GÜRSOY

Keywords:

Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Paleoecological Diversity, Lower Miocene, Tunceli.

Abstract:

The research subject is the Miocene aged units that located in the Munzur Mountains at the Ovacik district of Tunceli province. There is a continued sediment deposits from Paleozoic to Cenozoic at the Munzur Mountains. The neritic limestones of the Miocene Başpınar Formation outcropping in the Ovacık district are rich in fossil groups of gastropods and bivalves. In this study, 336 samples from the Başpınar Formation have been evaluated. Seven species of Gastropoda (Globularia carlei, Granulolabium plicatum, Granulolabium (Tiaracerithium) thiarella, Tympanotonus margaritaceus, Terebralia subcorrugata, Nassarius erunalae, Cerithium vulgatum,) and four species of Bivalvia (Cardita rusticana, Anadara aquitanica, Cubitostrea digitalina, Ostrea lamellosa) were identified. One more species of Bivalvia was identified by using open nomenclature (Chlamys sp.). The studied fossil assemblage of the Başpınar Formation indicates a Lower Miocene. Furthermore, for the first time in this study, paleoecological species diversity is calculated by using the Simpson, Shannon-Wiener, Epilou and Margalef indices for the locations where the fossils were collected. Numerical results are  obtained  by  comparing  bivalves  and  gastropods. According to  these results, the Gastropoda specimens shows that the more dominancy (Simpson index D = 0,82), the more species diversity (Shannon-Wiener index H = 2,53) and the higher species richness (Margalef index M = 1,23) than the Bivalvia specimens. The Epilou index value (Ep = 0,9) gives the result that the species numbers in the gastropods are approximately equal to each other.

DOI: 10.19111/bulletinofmre.334249

DOI:

DOI: 10.19111/bulletinofmre.334249