Karasu delta: the green area has been
covered by eroded soils, fillling
in what used to be an open-water bay.
| During the 1998-99 seasons members of the Sinop Regional Survey conducted
a geomorphological coring survey of the mouth of the Karasu river, defining
the changes in the shape of the coast over the past several thousand years.
We cored 12 meters into the plain using a Eijkelkamp gouge auger, obtaining
fifteen sediment cores that showed evidence of ancient salt water marshes
and open sea as much as three kilometers inland. The bay was filled
in by soils eroded off the surrounding hillsides, soil deposits made by
the river itself, and sand washing from East to West along the shore.
Sea currents built up sand bars until the bay was transformed into a lagoon.
After closing the bay, the same currents pushed the mouth of the Karasu
West, since several successive river mouths can be seen from East to West.
Note the river bends near the shore, demonstrating this process. |
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Alex drives the Eijkelkamp gouge auger
into
the mud as Owen and Mark steady it.
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Mark sieves soil through a fine mesh,
catching tiny shell fragments of salt and fresh-water species.
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