This highly successful meeting was organised by Prof.
Vedat Didari and his team from the Department of Mining Engineering,
Karaelmas University. It was the first full meeting of IGCP 575 and
provided the opportunity for new members of the team to meet with
the ‘old hands’ that had previously collaborated as part
of IGCP 469. There were 43 delegates at the meeting, including 18
IGCP 575 members, the rest being students and faculty members from
the university, and engineers and geologists from the local coal mines.
On the first day, after a welcoming speech by Prof. Dr. Mehmet Kopaç
(Dean of the Faculty of Engineering) a series of presentations were
given that summarised aspects of the geology of the coalfields in
the northwestern Anatolia region.
Ibrahim Buzkan and Dr. Hülya Keskin: ‘Geology and maturation
of Carboniferous aged northwestern Anatolia coal’
Yanaki Tenchov: ‘Some comparisons between Carboniferous sequences
of the Turkish Black Sea Coast and the Bulgarian Dobrudzha Coalfield’
Kavusan Gultekin: ‘Palynology of the Acilik Seam in Zonguldak’
Kavusan Gultekin: ‘Why is a NW-Anatolian database important?
An example of palynological research’
Ellen Stolle: ‘Palynostratigraphy of Moscovian-Kasimovian deposits
from the Zonguldak Coal Basin (Amasra), NW Turkey’
A. Kedzior, M. Paszkowski, M.A. Kusiak, M. Miklasinska-Oliwkiewicz
& D. Gmur: ‘The coal-bearing successions of the Turkish
various tectonic units - from Aegean Sea to Minor Caucasus’
There were also other presentations given relating to this project
as well as IGCP 469.
Chris Cleal: ‘Changing dynamics of Pennsylvanian-age tropical
wetlands – the Coal Swamps’
Tatyana Dimitrova: ‘Palynology of Late Palaeozoic rocks in North
Bulgaria’
Yanaki Tenchov: ‘Climatic change interpreted by Carboniferous
megaflora of Dobrudzha Coalfield NE Bulgaria. 1. The reticulation
at seed ferns from Dobrudzha Coalfield’
Zbynek Šimunek: ‘Dispersed cuticles from the Intrasudetic
Basin (Carboniferous, Upper Bolsovian, Czech Republic’
Ed Jarzembowski: ‘The role of fossil insects in IGCP 469 and
IGCP 575’
Afterwards, we were given a tour of the Mining Engineering Department
to see some of their collections and equipment. Finally, a Business
Meeting was held, where we discussed how to develop work on the northwestern
Anatolia coalfields. Presentations were also given by Desa Djordjevic-Milutinovic
(Belgrade) and Jasenka Sremac (Zagreb) outlining the geology of the
area of the Balkans that would be visited during the 2011 meeting
of IGCP 575.
The next two days were spent in the field, one each based in Asmara
and Armutçuk. In each place we examined the new mines being
developed in those areas and see the extensive archive of borehole
cores that were available. We had the opportunity to discuss IGCP
575 with the local mining geologists and contacts were established
that should enable future collaboration. An especially exciting contact
was with Cagri Yilmaz at the Amasra Hema Mine, who had already made
significant investigations into the palynology of the coalfield being
developed, using similar techniques that had been developed in IGCP
469. She has now agreed to participate in IGCP 575.
Members of IGCP 575 examining borehole cores at the
Hema Mine at Amasra (Photo C. Cleal).
Some natural outcrops of Pennsylvanian-age coal-bearing rocks were
examined on both days. Extensive vegetation cover limited the exposures,
although one section through part of the Kozlu Formation had been
opened-up by local miners in the Armutçuk Area of Turkish Hardcoal
Enterprises (T.T.K.) and HEMA. These exposures, along a path through
a wooded area, were very near a local school and had considerable
potential as an educational resource.
Examining fossils at the Hema Mine at Kandilli, near
Zonguldak (Photo C. Cleal).
Two spoil tips were also examined as potential resources of palaeontological
material. At the moment these tips only yield limited amounts of material,
but when the mines start working at full scale then more spoil should
become available.
IGCP 575 team at the Hema Mine at Kandilli, near Zonguldak
(Photo V. Didari).
The main outcomes of the meeting may be summarised as follows.
1. A greater clarity as to the relationship between these Turkish
coalfields, and the Dobrudzha and Upper Silesia coalfields on the
eastern Variscan Foreland. Although more detail is needed across the
basin, it is already evident that there are many similarities in these
successions.
2. An enhanced awareness among the Turkish geologists of the potential
of these coalfields for establishing wider patterns of vegetation,
habitat and climate changes during Pennsylvanian times.
3. Significant new contacts, especially with mining geologists and
palynologists in the area, who have agreed to collaborate and to input
data into the project.
4. Plans for members of IGCP 575 to re-visit the Zonguldak area in
2011 to examine more closely the borehole archive available there.
5. A plan to collate and publish a synthetic analysis of the Pennsylvanian
coal-bearing strata of northwestern Turkey.
Dr. Chris Cleal
Page updated on 5 January 2011
