Determination and sedimentology of seismic turbidites in the Lake Van sediments

Lake Van having a maximum depth of 460 m is the biggest soda lake of the world with respect to surface area and the fourth biggest lake with respect to its volume. Lake Van located on the higher plato of the east Anatolian is situated in an tectonically active region and rounded by avtive volcanos. Lake Van is situated in a climatically sensitive regionwhile it is on the intersection of North Atlantic and Sibiria high pressure, middle latitudesubtropical systems. Lake Van implies a long continental historic period. In this study, we studied detailed sedimentology of 40 m part of the core with a 145 m length that was recovered by ICDP project from Ahlat dormitory of Bitlis city around Lake Van in order to investigate seismo-turbidite (turbidite-homogenites) layers, which is thougth to be deposited during the eartquakes in the past. Pysical and geochemical properties of these seismo-turbidite (turbidite-homogenite) layers observed within this part of the core are shown by XRF and MSCL analysis. The depositional processes of theseclastic layers are obtained by their lithologic features and physical and geochemical measurements. Considering 78 turbidite-homogenite layers in Lake Van, 24 of them were considered to be deposited during the last 10.5 ka BP (Holocene), whereas 54 of them were deposited between 10.5-16 ka BP. These 78 observed seismo-turbidite (turbiditehomogenite) layers deposited during the last 16 ka BP due to volcanic eruptions of Süphan and Nemrut located nearby of the region that triggerred eartquakes, and thereby, seismoturbidite (turbidite-homogenite) were deposited along the slopes of Lake Van.Key Words: Lake Van, Holocene, Seismo-Turbidite, Core