Authigenic analcimes were observed in different amounts in Miocene units in central Anatolia, Turkey. Two types of analcime occurrences were defined: (1) as continuous but inhomogeneous concentrations varying from 3 to 75 wt.% in lacustrine sedimentary rocks; and (2) as low concentrations (between 3 and 20%) and discontinuous components in the tuffs and claystones intercalated with tuff. The type 2 analcimes have been investigated by many researchers while the origin and properties of the sedimentary analcimes, which are widespread in different parts of Turkey, have not been clarified. The present study focused on the genesis and the mineralogical and geochemical properties of both types of analcime. The analcimes were investigated using X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and chemical analytical methods. In the first type, other than volcaniclastic material, analcime is the only zeolite mineral. The first type of analcime was associated mainly with montmorillonite, dolomite, and feldspar and sometimes with calcite, and rarely with illite and kaolinite. The second type of analcime was found as an accessory mineral accompanied by montmorillonite, feldspar, and heulandite/clinoptilolite, and more rarely by erionite, kaolinite, and mica. The pyroclastic rocks are chemically classified into two subgroups, dacitic and andesitic rocks, with an intermediate to high silica content and a high percentage of alkali cations. Analcime in the pyroclastics intercalated with clay layers commonly replaced early-formed zeolites, such as clinoptilolite or volcanic materials. The first type of analcime was not formed from precursor zeolites and had a different origin than the second type. Type 1 analcime contains larger amounts of Si (34.19 to 34.68 Si per unit cell) and less Al and Na than in theoretical analcime. The theoretical structural formula of analcime is Na16(Al16Si32O96)H2O. The strongly decomposing feldspar and clay minerals (in particular montmorillonite and partially illite) of the older formations and the dissolution of halite and also soda minerals, e.g. thenardite and glauberite, allow the authigenic formation of type 1 analcime, dolomite, K-feldspar, and montmorillonite in a saline and highly alkaline environment such as the marginal part of Lake Tuzgölü. Type 2 analcime may have been precipitated directly from solution, pyroclastic material, or precursor zeolite minerals in saline and alkaline lake water.

The Güzelöz-İncesu Plateaus are situated in the central and eastern parts of the Cappadocian volcanic province (central Anatolia). This province contains many ignimbrite levels, andesite, basalt intercalated with several paleosols, calcrete, carbonate, fluvial sediments, diatomaceous clayey sediments and pyroclastic sedimentary levels. The presence of mottling, sesquioxide, root traces, rhizoids and burrows in continuous, finely bedded and laminated sediments, paleosols, calcrete, the occurrence of bone- and teeth-bearing reworked pyroclastic materials, and the description of the lithofacies in the study area indicate fluvial and shallow-lake environments. These environments are dominated by smectite and illite, with traces of kaolinite, associated mainly with plagioclase, K-feldspar, quartz, calcite, opal-CT, pyroxene (diopside, rare hypersthene), and locally trace amounts of gypsum and sepiolite. Smectite predominates in paleosols and calcrete units, and generally increases upwards in the profiles, coinciding with a gradual increase in the degree of alteration. Partial to complete alteration of plagioclase, K-feldspar, pyroxene and partial devitrification of glass-shard particles in pyroclastic rocks, development of microsparitic to sparitic cement comprising euhedral rhombic calcite crystals between irregular clay nodules in paleosol and calcrete samples, along with the occurrence of dogtooth-type sparitic crystals in fractures, desiccation cracks and geopetal-type fenestrae, indicate alternating periods of drought and wet, resulting in the development of paleosols and calcretes. Micromorphological development of spongiform smectite on mainly relict feldspar and, locally, on glass shards, indicates an authigenic origin, whereas illite formed either authigenically or by conversion of smectite to illite-smectite.

Gordion has long served as an archaeological type site for Iron Age central Anatolia and provided pioneering radiocarbon (14C) determinations as reported in the first issue of Radiocarbon (1959). Absolute dating of key events at Gordion continue to reshape our understanding of regional development and interaction in the Iron Age, with a major conflagration in the late 9th BCE century at this site the most recent focus of attention (DeVries et al. 2003). Here we present the latest series of 14C determinations for Gordion from Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age contexts. Fifteen absolute dates provide a critical new framework for establishing the timing and tempo of cultural transformation from the collapse of the Hittite Empire through to the subsequent formation of the Phrygian polity that dominated central Anatolia from the 9th to the 7th c. BCE. This chronometric revision transforms our perspective on the LBA/EIA transition at this site: from disengagement from Hittite hegemony in the 12th c. BCE, to the precocious emergence of the Phrygian capital in the early 9th c. BCE.

The Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex (CACC), situated between the northern and southern oceanic strands of Neotethys, contain a number of little-studied ophiolitic bodies of late Cretaceous age that have a bearing on the Mesozoic development of this region. The pillow lavas and sheeted dykes of the Sarikaraman Ophiolite were originally a comagmatic differentiated series of vesicular, aphyric and olivine-poor, plagioclase—clinopyroxene phyric tholeiites, but now exhibit greenschist facies assemblages. A set of late dolerite dykes cross-cutting the whole volcanic sequence are more chemically evolved and were probably derived from a different source. Relative to N-MORB the lavas and dykes are enriched in some LIL elements (K, Rb, Cs, U, Th and Sr) and depleted in HFS elements (Nb, Ta, Hf, Zr, Ti and Y) and light REE. In terms of immobile elements the ophiolitic basalts have the broad chemical characteristics of island are tholeiites that were formed in a supra-subduction zone setting, whereas the late dykes are more akin to N-MORB. In this respect the Sarikaraman Ophiolite is similar to other ophiolites found in the eastern Mediterranean region and emphasizes the preservation of this particular environment in the CACC. If all the Central Anatolian Ophiolites (of which the Sarikaraman Ophiolite is one example) were derived via southward thrusting from the Vardar-Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan Ocean branch to the north, age relationships suggest that this segment of ocean crust was relatively short-lived before obduction onto the CACC.

The Çankırı Basin is one of the largest Cenozoic basins in Central Anatolia, Turkey and contains possible economic hydrocarbon and evaporite reserves. Gypsum is the dominant mineral in the evaporite-bearing Pliocene deposits of the Çankırı Basin. In claystones, the abundance of smectite, dolomite, illite/mica and chlorite in association with minor amounts of mixed-layer chlorite-smectite, mica-vermiculite, amphibole, serpentine, quartz and feldspar together indicate an alkaline environment. Minor kaolinite is also present in some clay samples. Smectite is both detrital and authigenic. Palynological analysis revealed the existence of a mixed forest (Pinus, Cathaya, Tsuga, Cedrus, Abies, Quercus, Ulmus, Juglans, Pterocarya, Acer, Carya, Carpinus, Fagus) dominated by Pinus with a widespread herbaceous understory (Poaceae) interspersed sparsely with open areas occupied by Asteraceae. This flora reflects warm-temperate and humid climatic condition. δ13C analyses have shown that the vegetation was dominated by C3 plants.