Late Ordovician glaciation in southern Turkey

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present a new survey of several Palaeozoic sections in both the Taurus range and the Border Folds that documents typical glacial features including a glacial pavement and striated dropstones (Halevikdere Formation) and demonstrates the former presence of an ice sheet in southern and south‐eastern Turkey. Evidence for the late Ashgill (Hirnantian) age of this episode is provided by macro‐ and microfossils found within the glacial formation. The extension of ice‐related deposits into the northernmost part of the Arabian Platform (Mardin region) implies a much wider distribution of the Ordovician ice sheet than was previously believed, and strongly suggests that southern Turkey lay close to Egypt during the Lower Palaeozoic.