AN EARLY PLEISTOCENE ANOMALOHALINE WATER OSTRACOD FAUNA FROM LAKE DEPOSITS OF THE HOMO ERECTUS-BEARING KOCABAŞ LOCALITY (SW TURKEY)

Abstract

The early Pleistocene travertines from the Denizli Basin in SW Anatolia, from which the only known Homo erectus finding from Turkey was recovered, are unconformably overlain by a 20 m thick succession of alkaline lake deposits that bear a rich ostracod fauna. The ostracod assemblage consists of a mixture of freshwater and mesohaline tolerant taxa. The following sixteen species have been identified: Candona neglecta, C. ex. gr. candida, Cypria sp., Darwinulina stevensovi, Lineocypris sp., Prinocypris zenkeri, Cyrpideis torosa, C. sp., Tyrrhencythere pontica, T. ex. gr. bailovi, T. sp. 1, T. sp. 2, Amnicythere pediformis, A. mutlituberculata, Loxoconchissa (Loxocaspia) aff. reticulata, L. (L.) aff. reticulata var. rugosa. The conditions inside the lake were interpreted from the encountered assemblage, suggesting a restricted anomalohaline shallow water environment with a salinity no greater than lower mesohaline. The age of the studied succession was previously constrained by cosmogenic nuclide concentration, palaeomagnetic measurements and large mammal biostratigraphy which suggest deposition occurred between ~ 1.6 and 1.1 Ma.