Holocene Valley fills of Southern Turkey and Northwestern Syria: Recent geoarchaeological contributions

doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(98)00097-3

Quaternary Science Reviews

Volume 18, Issues 4–5, April 1999, Pages 555-571

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(98)00097-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

Holocene alluvial fills from catchments ranging from <1 to >100,000 km² (the upper Euphrates) are described for part of S Anatolia and NW Syria. The sequences indicate that mid-Holocene landscapes were moderately stable and in several areas were drained by reliable, perennial channel flows. Although the boundary between mid and late Holocene deposits (ca. 2000 BC) is represented by sedimentary discontinuities in several alluvial sequences, these transitions were not necessarily contemporaneous. In places, ploughwash deposits infilled valleys where sediment delivery had exceeded channel flow during the last 4000–5000 y. In the Balikh valley human withdrawal of water for irrigation has depleted flow, thereby weakening that river as a palaeohydrological indicator. The limited lacustrine sequences do not necessarily provide a reliable palaeoclimatic record because they may relate to increased flood frequency from the inflowing rivers, which may, in turn, result from a range of anthropogenic and natural factors. Late Holocene channel fills indicate less perennial flow, higher flow variations, increased erosion, or accelerated aggradation. Such environments appear to have characterized the last 4000–5000 yr during which time the impact of human population on the landscape increased and climatic desiccation, albeit at fluctuating levels, had probably become more pronounced.

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