Facies Evolution and Lake-Type Variability Related to Climatic Cycles in the Late Triassic Çakrazboz Formation, Western Pontides, Türkiye
Abstract: The Çakrazboz Formation, located in the AmasraKastamonu region of the Western Pontides (NWTürkiye), represents the only known Triassic continental sedimentary succession in Türkiye. This study integrates sedimentological, petrographic, and stratigraphic data from six measured sections to reconstruct depositional environments and evaluate paleoclimatic controls. Field and thin-section analyses reveal a complex facies mosaiccomprising three major lithofacies groups: lacustrine, palustrine, and fluvial. Lacustrine facies are represented by carbonate-rich successions, including micrite, wackestone, and packstone, indicating low-energy profundal tosublittoral settings. Palustrine facies, occurring predominantly in marginal lake environments, are characterized by pedogenic overprinting, fenestral fabrics, root traces, and desiccation features, with the Bozköy and Başköy-1sections showing more pronounced development of these features. Başköy-2 and Başköy-3 exhibit fluvial pointbar deposits with upward-fining successions and pedogenically modified mudstones, representing meanderingriver systems deposited during overfilled lake stages. Stratigraphic and sedimentological evidence indicates that the basin experienced repeated shifts between underfilled, balanced-fill, and overfilled lake stages. Carbonate-richsuccessions in the Çakrazboz and lower İncigez sections represent low-energy profundal lacustrine conditionstypical of underfilled stages. The upper İncigez and Başköy-1 sections preserve features of balanced-fill conditions,with fining-upward transgressive intervals overlain by progradational littoral facies. Overfilled conditions are locallyrecorded in Bozköy and in the upper parts of Başköy-1, as evidenced by laterally extensive successions that thicken and coarsen upward, reflecting sustained freshwater inflow. These vertical facies transitions, stacking patterns, anddiagenetic overprints are indicative of orbitally forced lake-level fluctuations under subhumid to semi-arid climateregimes, contributing to a broader understanding of Late Triassic continental basin evolution, facies architecture, and climate-controlled sedimentation.
