An Introduction To The Paleozoic Of Anatolia With A NW Gondwanan Perspective

The earliest attempts to recognize the Paleozoic rocks in Turkey in a more or less systematic approach and correlate them with those in Europe dates back to the second half of the 19. Century, where a number of natural scientists reported in their classical work also the stratigraphy and fossil findings in different Paleozoic successions in Turkey (e.g. Tchihatcheff, 1864; de Verneuil, 1869). The interest of the international geological community grew with the building of the Anatolian and later the Bagdat railways and the “discovery” of the Kirkuk (Musul) oil fields in northern Iraq during the end of the 19. and early 20. Century, where a number of studies on the Paleozoic of Turkey were published (e.g. Frech, 1916; Penck, 1919). The establishment of the Mineral Research and Exploration Institute of Turkey (MTA) followed by the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) resulted in systematic mapping of Paleozoic in Turkey, pioneered by a small number of geologists (e.g. Tolun and Ternek, 1952; Dean 1961 to 2006, Ketin, 1966, Kaya, 1973). The litho- and biostratigraphic information obtained between 1950 and 1990 was discussed during a field-meeting of IGCP 256 (Paleozoic of NW Gondwana) in 1995, organized again by the Turkish Association of Petroleum Geologists (TPJD) and published in a special issue of the Association (Göncüo¤lu & Derman, 1996). Following the Iraq War in 2003, the interest of the petroleum companies on the geology of the Northern Mesopotamia made another peak. A number of new research and exploration projects were started also in southern Turkey and a number of detailed studies with new data and models were put forward. To discuss them and record the state-of –art knowledge, TPJD organized this second field-meeting to one of the best preserved Paleozoic sections in the Eastern Mediterranean.