Research Information System
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2017, Viyana, Austria, 23 - 28 April 2017, pp.1
province, Turkey, the fossil leaves of the Eskihisar lignite mine were analysed using the Climate Leaf Analysis
Multivariate Program (CLAMP).
The investigated fossil leaves derive from the marls and clayey limestones (Sekköy Member) overlying the
exploited lignite seam (uppermost Turgut Member). The age of the studied sedimentary rocks is well constrained
by vertebrate fossils occuring in the main lignite seam (MN6 ! Gomphoterium angustidens Cuvier, 1817;
Percrocuta miocenica Pavlov & Thenius, 1965) and at the Yenieskihisar Mammal locality (MN7/8, uppermost
Sekköy Member).
719 specimens were measured and assigned to 65 leaf morphotypes. Using this data, CLAMP reconstructed the
following climate parameters: mean annual temperature (MAT) 12.58 (+/-1.5)C, warm month mean temperature
(WMMT) 23.72 (+/-2.5)C, cold month mean temperature (WMMT) 2.29 (+/-2)C, length of growing season
(LGS) 7.52 (+/-0.75) month, mean growing season precipitation (GSP) 130.1 (+/-40) cm, precipitation during the
three wettest months (3-WET) 67 (+/-25) cm, precipitation during the three driest months (3-DRY) 20.4 (+/-7.5)
cm.
The reconstructed parameters are too cool for tropical climates (the 18°C winter isotherm being a threshold
for tropical climates) and indicate temperate conditions; climates fitting these parameters (Cfb according to the
Köppen-Geiger climate classification) can be found today in regions known as “Tertiary relict areas” (e.g. Black
sea coast of Northeast Turkey, eastern China, Japan).
Based on a substantial amount of rainfall during the three driest months, it is further possible to exclude
markedly seasonal climates such as a summer-dry and winter-wet Mediterranean climate and a summer-wet and
winter-dry monsoon climate as commonly found along the southern foothills of the Himalayas and in southwestern
China. Instead, a fully humid Cf climate is proposed that has only a weak seasonality in precipitation (lower
precipitation in winter).
The findings of our study provide valuable information for inferring palaeoenvironments of middle Miocene rich
ungulate faunas in western Turkey (e.g. Pa¸salar), for which seasonal tropical and subtropical forest communities
have been proposed (Andrews, 1990).
The fossil floras of the Tınaz and Salipah¸salar lignite mines, representing the Tınaz sub-basin and the main
basin of the wider Yata^gan Basin, are investigated at the moment, and a synthesis paper combining and comparing
evidence from the macro floral and palynological data is soon to be submitted.
Andrews. (1990) Palaeoecology of the Miocene fauna from Pa¸salar, Turkey. Journal of Human evolution 19:569–582.