Investigation of geological formation and textural settings of Antalya beaches

In this dissertation sedimentological texture of Konyaaltı and Lara beaches, where is located in center of Antalya, were investigated. Antalya is situated just south of the Taurus Mountains in the southwestern Turkey, and it has a number of long and wide beaches. The problem is there is no comprehensive study about formation and sedimentological patterns of that beaches. The aim of this study is illuminating the physical characteristics of two beaches, and investigating interaction between hydrodynamic conditions and textural properties. Konyaaltı and Lara beaches are divided into section at intervals of 250 m to be parallel to the coast. In each section, beaches were partitioned again at intervals of 20 m perpendicular to the shoreline. Consequently, a total of 100 samples were collected. Textural parameters (mean grain size, sorting, skewness, kurtosis) were calculated, and their variation along and perpendicular to beach was examined. Mean grain size ranges between -3,71 and 0,82 ϕ (medium gravel-coarse sand) in Konyaaltı beach. Also there are gravels which are diameter reach 8 cm on the beach. In addition, sediments on beach have moderate sorting. The mean grain size in the Lara beach ranges from -0,43 ϕ to 1,81 ϕ (coarse and fine sand). On the other hand, sorting is poor in Lara beach. Both Konyaltı and Lara beach's morphological units change together with seasonally varying current and wave regime effective on beaches. Apart from these, if beaches nomenclature according to classification in literature, Lara beach can be classified as a mixed sand and gravel beach while Konyaaltı beach is needed new classification.