Geological structure of the deep eastern Mediterranean Sea (east of 25 Degrees E)

Conference · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:5749907

Montadert, L; Sage, L; Letouzey, J ^[1]

---

1. Institut Francais du Petrole, Rueil-Malmaison (France)

The deformation fronts of the Cyprus arc and the Mediterranean ridge, extending from the Turkey-Syria boundary to north Cyrenacia, are the southernmost superficial expression of the convergence between the Eurasian and African plates. They separate the Eastern Mediterranean deep basin into two different structural units: (1) A thrust belt, northward, with the presence of Cenozoic sedimentary basins which could be considered piggy-back basins (Iskenderun, Adana, Cilicia, and Antalya basins). These basins, filled by 4,000 to 6,000 m of Cenozoic sediments, lie on a substratum composed of south-vergent nappes emplaced between the Late Cretaceous and the late Miocene. (2) A foreland area, southward, where the thick Herodotus and Levantine sedimentary basins, relatively undeformed, lie on the passive and subsident African continental margin initiated during Late Triassic or early Liassic time. Due to the still-active collision between the thrust belt and the Erathosthenes seamount, Cyprus was uplifted and today represents the emerged part of the deformation front. During the Messinian, with the isolation of the Mediterranean Sea, evaporitic deposits including a salt layer (sometimes more than 2,000 m thick) were widely distributed into the Iskenderun, Cilicia, Antalya, Levantine, and Herodotus basins. In these basins, the Messinian sedimentation was directly controlled by basin topography.

• OSTI ID: 5749907
• Report Number(s): CONF-8809346--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Journal Volume: 72:8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
CENOZOIC ERA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
MESOZOIC ERA
SEAS
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SURFACE WATERS
TERTIARY PERIOD
TRIASSIC PERIOD