Palynomorphs of brackish and marine species in cores from the freshwater Lake Sapanca, NW Turkey

Abstract

Lake Sapanca, which is located on the Sakarya–Sapanca–İzmit corridor in NW Turkey, is a freshwater lake with numerous fish farms in its catchment. Palynological analyses including non-pollen palynomorphs of a short (38.5 cm) and a longer sediment core (586 cm), taken in the centre of the lake and dated in previous investigations, revealed the presence of brackish and marine palynomorphs. The longer sediment sequence shows the occurrence of Brigantedinium sp., Impagidinium caspienense and Spiniferites cruciformis from the base of the core at c. AD 580 years up to 300 cm depth at shortly after c. AD 910. A similar assemblage, but this time with the additional presence of dinoflagellate thecae and the acritarch, Radiosperma corbiferum, was found in the recent core, especially from AD 1986 until the present. Past connections between the Gulf of İzmit and the Black Sea, via the River Sakarya and Lake Sapanca, could be the origin of these two microfossil assemblages. Accidental re-introduction via fish translocation since the Roman times may have been a additional mechanism. The consequences of the survival of brackish and marine forms in a freshwater lake are discussed in terms of wider euryhalinity than has been suggested for those still poorly known organisms.