Petrography, electron paramagnetic resonance, geochemistry, and Sr-C-O isotope datafor provenance studies of the ancient Marmor Iassense in Kıyıkışlacık(Muğla region), Türkiye

The Marmor Iassense (Iasos marble, Marmor Carium) banded marbles, produced from the Kızılağaç Formation near thevillage of Kıyıkışlacık, have been favorite marbles from ancient times to the present day with their colors and patterns. During theRoman and Byzantine periods, they were preferred as decorative stones for many important buildings in İstanbul, such as the HagiaSophia, Chora Monastery (Kariye Mosque), and Church of the Holy Apostles, as well as San Vitale in Ravenna and other buildingsthroughout the Mediterranean region. They were used in wall coverings, flooring, columns, and mosaics. These marbles contain redand gray-white alternating folded layers of different thicknesses. They consist of calcite, quartz, feldspar (albite ± orthoclase), chlorite,muscovite, graphite, and hematite minerals and are fine- to medium-grained (maximum grain size: 0.2–2 mm). The tone of the red colorvaries depending on the amount of hematite. Geochemical properties and Sr-C-O isotope characteristics show that the parent rocks ofthe Kıyıkışlacık marbles were formed from carbonate rocks precipitated in an open-sea environment. Marmor Iassense banded marblesare easily distinguished from most red marbles used in ancient times with their textural features. The new petrography, X-ray diffraction,electron paramagnetic resonance, isotope, and geochemistry analysis results obtained in this study constitute a dataset that could beused in provenance studies by those who study these marbles in the future.