Abstract
High-resolution physical, geochemical, and geochronological analyses on the sedimentary sequence of Yenicaa Lake, located in a fault-bounded basin along the North Anatolian Fault, reveal fingerprints of paleoearthquakes. A robust sediment chronology, spanning the last 3400 years, is constructed by radiocarbon dating and time-stratigraphical correlation with the precisely dated Sofular Cave speleothem record. Yenicaa sedimentary sequence contains 11 seismically induced event deposits characterized by siliciclastic-enriched intervals. Some of the event deposits are also associated with implications of sudden lake deepening, which may be related to coseismic subsidence. The paleoearthquake series having an average recurrence interval of ca. 260 years are interrupted by two possible seismic gaps of ca. 420 and 540 years.
Key Points
<list list-type="bulleted" id="grl51324-list-0001"> <list-item id="grl51324-li-0001">Proxy record of a lake is chronostratigraphically tuned to a speleothem record <list-item id="grl51324-li-0002">Earthquake-triggered increase in sediment yield is detected in lake deposits <list-item id="grl51324-li-0003">Possible ca. 500 yrs-long seismic gaps are revealed on the North Anatolian Fault