JOURNAL OF ASIAN EARTH SCIENCES, vol.31, pp.429-438, 2008 (SCI-Expanded)
The Late Cretaceous Gursoku Formation represents the proximal fill of the Sinop-Samsun Forearc Basin that was probably initiated by extension during the Early Cretaceous. The succession records sedimentation in two contrasting depositional systems: a slope-apron flanking a faulted basin margin and coarse-grained submarine fans. The slope-apron deposits consist of thinly bedded turbiditic sandstones and mudstones, interbedded with non-channelized chaotic boulder beds and intraformational slump sheets representing a spectrum of processes ranging from debris flow to submarine slides. The submarine fan sediments are represented by conglomerates and sandstones interpreted as deposited from high density turbidity currents and non-cohesive debris flows. The occurrence of both slope apron and submarine fan depositional systems in the Gursoku Formation may indicates that the region was a tectonically active basin margin during the Late Cretaceous. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.