Fluvial response to climate change during and after the Last Glacial Maximum in Central Anatolia, Turkey

Fluvial response to climate change during and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) included incision–aggradation phases, recorded in sediment cores from the valley floor of the Kızılırmak in Central Anatolia. A numerical chronology was established by AMS dating of fluvial sediments and Ar–Ar dating of a basalt sample capping the youngest terrace (Late Pleistocene terrace), indicating that the main incision phase was completed at the end of the LGM. The succeeding aggradation phase in the valley took place from the end of the LGM onwards. It appears that the major climatic transition from the LGM to the Late Glacial gave rise to aggradation in the fluvial system, and this event seems to be consistent with the timing of the regression phase of pluvial lakes and the termination of paleoglacier advances in the high mountains of Anatolia. This study of fluvial systems in Anatolia indicates that the coldest periods are not always characterized by fluvial aggradation.