Karacalar Silver Travertine Quarry (Miocene of Turkey)

Also known as Afyon-1

Where: Afyonkarahisar, Turkey (39.0° N, 31.3° E)

• Paleocoordinates: 36.1° N, 31.9° E (Wright 2013)

• coordinate stated in text

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: MN7/8 mammal zone, Gebeceler Formation, Astaracian (16.0 - 11.6 Ma)

• "The Karacalar specimen was found in travertine above a layer dated to MN7/8 (Mayda et al. 2013)"

Environment/lithology: lacustrine; lithified travertine and lithified, medium-grained marl

• The Gebeceler Formation exposed on most areas surrounding the Karacalar Village consists of pebble stone, pebbly sandstone, tuff- tuffite clayey limestone at the base, thin-medium bedded marls and transitional lacustrine limestones. The thickness of the unit reaches 345 m (Metin et al. 1987). In previous studies, mammal fossils were mentioned from the unit, dating it to the middle Miocene (Saraç 2003). In addition, 11.6 ± 0.25 my K/Ar age was taken from tuffite levels in volcanoclastics (Besang et al. 1977). There are many travertine quarries in the region, where the lacustrine limestones are mined as natural stones (travertine). In these lacustrine limestones, vertebrate fossil remains, plant fossils, fossil reeds and algae have been identified. These travertine deposits were formed as a result of many inactive faults.

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: quarrying,

• Quarried from commercial travertine quarry. Located at Afyon Kocatepe University under Afyon-1.

Primary reference: J. van der Hoek, A. Karabaşoğlu, S. Mayda and L. W. Hoek Ostende. 2022. Caught in travertine: computed tomography reveals the youngest record of Amphicyon giganteus from the travertine deposits of Karacalar (late middle Miocene, central Anatolia, Turkey). PalZ 96(2):385-402more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 235538: authorized by Mark Uhen, entered by Julien Van der Hoek on 17.07.2024

Creative Commons license: CC0 (CC0)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Mammalia
 Carnivora - Amphicyonidae
Amphicyon giganteus
Amphicyon giganteus Schinz 1825 bear-dog