structural evolution of the latakia ridge and cyprus basin at the front of the cyprus arc eastern mediterranean sea abstract the active deformation front between the african and anatolian plates in the eastern mediterranean is delineated by the cyprus arc present plate kinematic vectors and earthquake data suggest that the movement along the eastern extent of the cyprus arc is largely sinistral strike slip it is however widely accepted that subduction took place beneath cyprus until the early miocene subduction has since thought to have become impeded by the collision of the eratosthenes seamount with the island of cyprus the deformation front of the cyprus arc is dominated by the latakia ridge a steep narrow high which merges gradually with the lower slope of the broad hecataeus rise in the west and extends to the northern levantine coast in the east where the expression of the ridge changes to a number of narrow northeast trending ridges and basins the latakia ridge has previously been interpreted as either a thrust culmination or a positive flower structure this study uses high resolution marine seismic reflection profiles to delineate the stratigraphic and structural architecture of the deformation front from seismic profiles four stratigraphic units bounded by major basin wide unconformities can be identified these units are eocene lower miocene miocene uppermost miocene messinian and pliocene quaternary the timing of deformation determined from growth stratal architectures on the flanks of the major structures show that two main phases of deformation characterize the structural history of the deformation front each of these phases represents a different kinematic regime a compressional regime dominated during the miocene whereas a strike slip regime dominated in the pliocene quaternary

sedimentation and basin formation related to ophiolite nappe emplacement miocene sw turkey abstract the miocene kasaba basin in southwestern turkey is a peripheral foreland basin that resulted from the thrusting and emplacement of the lycian nappes ophiolite unit onto a previously stable carbonate platform the resulting basin fill is the product of the complex interaction of tectonic and sedimentary processes and records the timing and magnitude of tectonic events in the thrust belt initial emplacement of the nappes in the late aquitanian resulted in the foundering and irregular subsidence of the carbonate platform by burdigalian times continued loading of the carbonate platform resulted in the development of a sedimentary basin ca 170 km across fan deltas shed off the leading edge of the nappe pile passed basin wards into a series of small submarine fans at the same time a peripheral bulge developed in the central part of the carbonate platform along the margin of the basin opposite the nappe pile a thick wedge of sediments derived from the carbonate platform was shed northwestwards into the basin varying sedimentation rates and migrating facies belts in the overlying middle and upper miocene basin fill sequence document both the progressive emplacement of the lycian nappes approximately 100 km from the northwest over the basin margin and overstep of the peripheral bulge

discrete plio pleistocene phases of tilting and counterclockwise rotation in the southeastern aegean arc rhodos greece early pliocene formation of the south aegean left lateral strike slip system the island of rhodos represents an uplifted block in the largely submerged southeastern aegean forearc it has a complex history of subsidence uplift and counterclockwise rotation during the plio pleistocene in response to the interplay between large scale geodynamic processes in this paper we present a new chronostratigraphic framework for the continental pliocene apolakkia basin of southwestern rhodos we combine these time constraints with recently published chronostratigraphic data from the marine plio pleistocene basins of northeastern rhodos to reconstruct rotational and vertical motions our palaeomagnetic results identify two rotation phases for rhodos c 10 9 6 counterclockwise ccw rotation between 3 8 and 3 6 ma and c 17 6 ccw rotation since 0 8 ma between these phases rhodos tilted to the se drowning the southeastern coast to a depth of 500 600 m between 2 5 and 1 8 ma then to the nw which resulted in the re emergence of the drowned relief between 1 5 and 1 1 ma we relate the rotations of rhodos to incipient formation of the south aegean sinistral strike slip system and the foundering of the rhodos basin the previously shown absence of messinian evaporites in the deep marine rhodos basin in combination with the 3 8 ma onset of ccw rotation of rhodos constrains the onset of the formation of the south aegean strike slip system between 5 3 and 3 8 ma the formation of this strike slip system is probably related to the interplay of oblique collision between the southeastern aegean region and the northward moving african plate the westward motion of anatolia gravitational spreading of the overthickened aegean lithosphere and the recently postulated southwestward retreat of the african subducted slab along a subduction transform edge propagator fault

progressive development of the buyuk menderes graben based on new data western turkey oblique and normal fault systems exposed in the buyuk menderes graben bmg region record two successive and independent complex tectonic events the first group tectonic event is defined by an e w extension related to n s contraction and transpression this group is responsible for the development of nw and ne trending conjugate pairs of oblique faults which controlled early middle miocene basin formation between the early middle miocene and plio quaternary strata exists an unconformity indicating a period of folding uplift and severe erosion associated with n s shortening the second group of events was the change in tectonic regime from e w extension to n s extension which controlled the formation of the buyuk menderes graben by three progressive pulses of deformation the first pulse of extensional deformation was initially recorded in the region by the exhumation of the deep part of the menderes massif mm with the development of the e trending buyuk menderes detachment fault bmdf the minimum age of this pulse is constrained by the older plio quaternary fluviatile deposits of the buyuk menderes graben that range in age from the plio pleistocene boundary interval to late pleistocene the second pulse which is marked by the rapid deposition of alluvial deposits initiated the formation of approximately e w trending high angle normal faults synthetic and antithetic to the buyuk menderes detachment fault on the northern margin during holocene times these faults are interpreted as secondary steeper listric faults that merge with the main buyuk menderes detachment fault at depth the third pulse was the migration of the buyuk menderes graben depocentre to the present day position by diachronous activity of secondary steeper listric faults these steeper faults are the most seismically active tectonic elements in western turkey according to the stratigraphic and structural data the n s extension in the buyuk menderes graben region produced a progressive deformation phase with different pulses during its plio quaternary evolution with migration of deformation from the master fault to the hangingwall the formation of diachronous secondary synthetic and antithetic steeper faults on the upper plate of the buyuk menderes detachment fault hence the southward migration of the deformation and of the buyuk menderes graben depocentre should be related to the evolution of detachment in the region the presence of the seismically active splays of secondary faults implies an active detachment system in the region this young plio quaternary n s extension in the buyuk menderes graben may be attributed to the combined effects of the two continuing processes in aegean region the first process is back arc spreading or probably the roll back of african slab below the south aegean arc which seems to be responsible for the change in the stress tensor from e w extension to n s extension the second and later event is the southwestward escape of the anatolian block along its boundary fault that is the north anatolian fault naf

architecture of late orogenic quaternary basins in northeastern mediterranean sea abstract in the northeastern mediterranean sea pliocene to quaternary depocentres have formed in extensional basins bounded by splays of the east anatolian transform fault this tectonic regime is superimposed on a miocene and older back arc environment that experienced late miocene compression along the misis kyrenia thrust which now lies in the middle of the extensional zone the thrust zone is now represented by a narrow horst that appears to be bounded by strike slip faults pliocene quaternary extension took place on listric fault fans that are orthogonal to the bounding transform splays and sole at a messinian evaporite horizon and on some deeper soling listric faults parallel to and near the bounding faults the rapid extension has resulted in progressive landward migration of paleoshorelines and low depositional gradients glacio eustatic fluctuations in shoreline positions strongly influenced sediment distribution most sediment dispersion was from deltaic plumes with turbidites of minor significance depocentres landward of the maximum seaward extent of paleoshorelines were formed almost entirely by tectonic subsidence minor deep water depocentres controlled by halokinesis accumulated mud turbidites during extreme low stands of sea level

the cilicia adana basin complex eastern mediterranean neogene evolution of an active fore arc basin in an obliquely convergent margin abstract detailed interpretation of multi channel seismic reflection profiles showed that the deposition of the miocene successions in the cilicia adana basin complex occurred within a foredeep south of the arcuate tauride fold thrust belt the misis kyrenia fault zone defined the northernmost of a number of smaller thrust culminations developed within this foredeep fluvio deltaic successions suggest that the adana and inner cilicia basins became emergent during the tortonian when the western portion of the piggy back basin retained a marine connection the entire region became emergent during the messinian salinity crisis and up to 1000 m of evaporites were deposited in the cilicia and southern adana basins stratigraphic and structural relationships demonstrated that the late plio quaternary cilicia adana basin complex evolved as an asymmetric piggy back basin on the hanging wall of the large south verging misis kyrenia thrust culmination on the misis kyrenia segment of the culmination thrust activity ceased in early messinian whereas on the kyrenia segment it continued to the present the shift in the kinematics is expressed by the development of the ne sw trending steep faults with extensional separations bounding the plio quaternary depocentre in the adana and inner cilicia basins these basement rooted faults are incompatible with the contractional regime that existed in this part of the basin complex during the miocene in the outer cilicia basin the incompatibility between a domain of continued south directed fold thrust activity and uplift on the kyrenia range and a domain of extension associated with the development of plio quaternary depocentre indicates that strain is strongly partitioned across the e w trending southern basin bounding fault system along the southern margin of the outer cilicia basin progressive westward displacement of the tauride block within the aegean anatolian microplate created a localised transtensional regime within the inner cilicia and adana basins suggesting the presence of hard intra plate fault boundaries centred along the misis kyrenia horst block and the southern basin bounding fault system the northern basin bounding fault system including the kozan fault in the cilicia basin is a set of large antithetic structures linked to the master faults the westward pull out of the tauride block is related to the overall westward escape of the aegean anatolian microplate during the latest miocene to early pliocene whereas the continued contraction south of the basin complex across cyprus is related to the evolving collision and under plating of the continental micro fragment the eratosthenes we propose that the southern master fault of the outer cilicia basin primarily functions as a boundary separating a contractional microplate domain to the south from a transtensional microplate domain to the north

exhumation with a twist paleomagnetic constraints on the evolution of the menderes metamorphic core complex western turkey 1 much remains to be understood about the links between regional vertical axis rotations continental extension and shortening in western turkey miocene vertical axis rotations have been reported that occur simultaneously with the extensional exhumation of the menderes metamorphic core complex which has been related to back arc extension in the eastern part of the aegean back arc in this paper we explore the spatial and temporal relationships between vertical axis rotations in southwestern turkey and extensional unroofing of the menderes massif to this end we provide a large set of new paleomagnetic data from western turkey and integrate these with the regional structural evolution to test the causes and consequences of oroclinal bending in the aegean region the lycian nappes and bey daglari are shown to rotate 20 between 16 and 5 ma defining the eastern limb of the aegean orocline this occurred contemporaneously with the exhumation of the central menderes massif along extensional detachments and after the latest oligocene to early miocene exhumation of the northern and southern menderes massifs exhumation of the latter two was not associated with vertical axis rotations the lower miocene volcanics in the region from lesbos to usak to the north of the central menderes massif underwent a small clockwise rotation insignificant with respect to eurasia this shows that exhumation of the central menderes massif was associated with a vertical axis rotation difference between the northern and southern menderes massifs of 25 30 this result is in excellent agreement with the angle defined by the trends of buyuk menderes and alasehir detachments as well as the angle defined by the regionally curving stretching lineation pattern across the central menderes massif these structures define a pivot point rotation pole for the west anatolian rotations the rotation of the southern domain including the southern menderes massif the lycian nappes and bey daglari must have led to n s contraction east of this pole the eastern limit of the rotating domain is formed by the transpressional couple of the aksu thrust and kirkkavak fault in the center of the isparta angle previously reported clockwise rotations in the volcanic fields near afyon may be the result of distributed n s shortening east of the pivot point the precise accommodation of this shortening history remains open for investigation late oligocene to early miocene extension in the eastern part of the aegean back arc was ne sw oriented and likely bounded by a discrete transform this transform may be associated with an early evolution of the eastern aegean subduction transform edge propagator fault oroclinal bending in the west anatolian region is likely related to a reconnection of the eastern part of the aegean orocline with the african northward moving plate in tandem with roll back in the aegean back arc comparable to a recently postulated scenario for western greece

structural architecture of the rhodes basin a deep depocentre that evolved since the pliocene at the junction of hellenic and cyprus arcs eastern mediterranean abstract interpretation of 1500 km of multi channel seismic reflection profiles shows that the rhodes basin evolved in two distinct tectonic stages a protracted miocene convergence episode p1 resulted in the development of a mainly sse verging fold thrust belt this period corresponds with the emplacement of the lycian nappes to the northeast and fold thrust complexes on the island of rhodes to the west this phase of deformation ceased in the late miocene the absence of evaporites in the rhodes basin suggests that this region must have remained above the depositional base of marine evaporite environment during the messinian the morphology of the m reflector and the architecture of the lowermost pliocene growth strata in the central portion of the rhodes basin demonstrate the existence of rugged paleo relief over the pre existing miocene fold thrust belt in early pliocene the middle pliocene quaternary phase of deformation is characterised by ne sw sinistral transpression p2 and rapid regional subsidence the p2 deformation occurred in response to an actively curving hellenic arc and the increasing obliquity of its eastern limb the pliny strabo trenches or fault zones to the convergence vector of the african plate during this time the p1 structures became re activated as transpressional faults further facilitating the rapid subsidence we envisage the evolution of the rhodes basin as the result of subsidence associated with loading of the large imbricate thrust panels that carry the western tauride mountains in the north at present the pliny strabo fault zones are delineated as a ne sw trending 30 50 km wide zone that continue into the western segment of the rhodes basin this fault zone is further correlated with the similar trending 50 km wide burdur fethiye fault zone in southwestern turkey

neotectonic deformation in the western sector of tectonic escape in anatolia palaeomagnetic study of the afyon region central turkey abstract following final closure of the neotethyan ocean during the late miocene deformation in central turkey has led to crustal thickening and uplift to produce the anatolian plateau followed by westward extrusion of terranes by strike slip widespread volcanism has accompanied this latter neotectonic phase and palaeomagnetic study of the volcanism shows a coherent record of differential block rotations indicating that the anatolian region is not a plate or platelet sensu stricto but is undergoing distributed internal deformation to evaluate the scale of neotectonic rotations in the transition zone near the western limit of tectonic escape and the border of the extensional domain in central west turkey we have studied the palaeomagnetism at 82 sites in volcanic suites distributed along a 140 km lineament with north south trend and ranging in age from 18 to 8 ma comparable deflection of magnetic remanence from the present field direction is identified along the full length of the lineament a mean clockwise rotation of 12 3 4 2 is determined for this western sector of the anatolian strike slip province since similar rotations are observed in the youngest and oldest units this cumulative rotation occurred after the late miocene when interpreted together with results elsewhere in anatolia it is inferred that the rotation is later than crustal thickening and uplift of the anatolian plateau and entirely a facet of the tectonic escape inclinations are mostly 10 shallower than the predicted miocene field and are considered to reflect the presence of a persistent inclination anomaly in the mediterranean region larger rotations departing from the regional trend are also observed within the study region but are confined to the vicinity of major faults notably those bounding the afyon aksehir graben the pattern of neotectonic declinations across anatolia identifies strong anticlockwise rotation in the east near the arabian pincer with progressive reduction in the amount of rotation towards the west it becomes zero or slightly clockwise at the western extremity of the accreted terrane collage rotations also appear to become generally younger towards the south crustal deformation has therefore been distributed and the net effect of terrane extrusion to the west and south has been to expand the curvature of the tauride arc the westward radial expansion of the extruded terranes is inferred to combine with backroll on the hellenic arc to produce the contemporary extensional province in western turkey

late cenozoic deformation of the hellenide foreland western greece the late cenozoic structural evolution of western greece involved the shortening of mesozoic passive continental margin and cenozoic foreland basin sequences in a foreland propagating fold and thrust system and superimposed neotectonic deformation related to the development of an active island arc although the pre apulian zone has been regarded as the undeformed western foreland to the thrust belt three dimensional exposures in the ionian islands of kephalonia and zakinthos afford evidence of significant late neogene and quaternary shortening including thrusting on reactivated normal faults time relations and fault kinematics show that these structures are compatible with the westward migration of the locus of hellenide thrusting beyond its previously recognized limit and outer arc compression related to active subduction the presence of the pre apulian zone in the west contrasts with other aegean foreland areas where no such intermediate block lay between the thrust pile and old mesozoic oceanic crust consequently the pre apulian block took up continued hellenide shortening in the late miocene while oceanic crust was being overridden subducted in southern parts of the arc to the east the pre apulian zone subsequently overrode the ocean floored ionian sea during the late neogene the confusion in determining driving mechanisms for late cenozoic deformation in western greece and the apparent conflict between evidence for the age of initial subduction in different parts of the arc are explained by this model which is consistent with regional considerations including structuration in adjacent areas and important paleomagnetic rotations in the arc

the tertiary geodynamical evolution of the aegean arc a paleomagnetic reconstruction abstract the paleomagnetic results obtained in the last 5 6 years from tertiary formations in the aegean domain indicate that the lower miocene arc was almost rectilinear with an e w trend and that its curvature has been acquired tectonically in two major phases during the middle miocene a first phase of deformation is characterized by rotations occurring at the two terminations of the arc clockwise in the west epirus anticlockwise in the east southeastern anatolia a second phase of rotation occurring in the last 5 ma about a pole situated in the southern adriatic sea has affected only the northwestern part the data also indicate that the antalya basin has not been involved in the geodynamical evolution of the arc so that the bey daglari represent its easternmost unit a more complex rotational pattern is observed in the internal zones the large rotations measured in evia 48 and skyros 26 probably occurred in the last 5 ma and result from rotation of fault bounded blocks in a shear zone connecting the north aegean trough to the external arc in the izmir region in the karaburun peninsula of western anatolia and in the island of lesbos significant counterclockwise clockwise or null rotations of coherent blocks have taken place during the neotectonic extensional regime furthermore the values of the inclination obtained from both sedimentary and volcanic oligo miocene formations are systematically shallower than expected on the basis of a geocentered dipole field this suggests that the entire studied area has undergone a northward drift of over 1000 km since the middle miocene

petrology of the tekirova antalya ophiolite southern turkey evidence for diverse magma generations and their tectonic implications during neotethyan subduction the sw antalya complex is an assemblage of mesozoic carbonate platform margin and ophiolitic rocks which record the formation and tectonic emplacement of a small mesozoic ocean basin the late cretaceous ophiolitic rocks are located at two localities namely the relatively intact tekirova ophiolite to the east of kemer zone and the dismembered godene ophiolite to the west of kemer zone the tekirova antalya ophiolite comprises harzburgitic tectonites ultramafic to mafic cumulates isotropic gabbros and sheeted dikes numerous isolated dikes ranging in thickness from 5 cm to 10 m intruded the crustal rocks at different structural levels the isotropic gabbros are represented by gabbro diorite and quartz diorite rocks with granular to ophitic subophitic textures the isolated dikes are characterized by dolerite diabase and microdiorite with ophitic intersertal and microgranular textures these rocks exhibit tholeiitic to alkaline compositions new geochemical data presented in this paper from the isolated dikes and isotropic gabbros suggest that there are three main types of parental basic magmas that form the oceanic crustal rocks of the tekirova antalya ophiolite these are 1 iat series which can be referred to the group i isolated dikes and isotropic gabbros 2 low ti boninitic series characterized by the group ii isolated dike and isotropic gabbros and 3 oib type including the group iii isotropic gabbros the geochemical evidence suggests that the crustal rocks of the tekirova antalya ophiolite were generated from a progressive source depletion from island arc tholeiites iat to boninites therefore a fore arc tectonic setting seems likely for the generation of the crustal rocks from the tekirova antalya ophiolite in the southern branch of neotethys during the late cretaceous the oib type alkaline isotropic gabbros are thought to have resulted from either 1 a late stage magmatic activity fed by melts that originated within an asthenospheric window due to slab break off or 2 subduction of a ridge system which generated oib source across the asthenospheric window that has been no influence of fluids from the subducted slab into the overlying mantle wedge shortly before the emplacement of the tekirova antalya ophiolite onto the tauride platform

salt tectonics in two convergent margin basins of the cyprus arc northeastern mediterranean abstract seismic reflection profiles from the adana cilicia and iskenderun latakia basin complexes in the ne mediterranean sea show the presence of linked extensional contractional fault systems detached at the base of the messinian evaporites the extensional domain is developed within the thick proximal part of the plio quaternary delta succession in the inner part of each basin it is characterized by imbricate fans of listric normal faults which delineate turtle anticlines and their intervening syncline the faults sole into the gently southwest dipping detachment surface in the inner basins salt is largely evacuated toward the outer basins but remnants occur as rollers in the footwalls of the listric extensional faults and small subdued pillows beneath turtle anticlines the narrow synclines between the two turtle back growth anticlines record a more complicated history of rise and fall of the salt related to switch in vergence of the extensional fault fan a large salt wall is developed at the toe of the delta complex in both basins two wide peripheral sinks are present within the plio quaternary units on both flanks of the salt wall locally small segments of salt welds are present near the base of the salt wall the contractional domain is characterized by a relatively thin plio quaternary cover overlying a relatively uniform 500 800 ms thick salt substrate a series of salt cored growth folds are commonly associated with thrusts of variable vergence the halokinetic structures in the cilicia and latakia basins display a remarkable resemblance to detached and linked systems of extensional and contractional fault fans documented in classical salt provinces on passive margins the study area also resembles scaled experiments which document synchronous development of extensional and contractional fault systems detached in a ductile substrate however a number of differences also exist which may arise from several factors including the nature of ductility contrast between the ductile portion of the evaporite layer and the supra salt succession the thickness ratio of overburden to evaporite unit and the rate of progradation and the nature of sediment distribution during the evolution of the delta complex the special aspect of these associations of linked gravity driven extensional and contractional salt structures is that they are developed as a self contained system wholly situated within a plio quaternary transtensional basin

seismic stratigraphy and structural evolution of the adana basin eastern mediterranean abstract detailed interpretation and mapping of multi channel seismic reflection profiles from the adana basin show that a south verging linked imbricate thrust stack existed across the northern portion of the adana basin prior to the deposition of early miocene sedimentary successions following the development of the basement cored fold thrust belt the region was irregularly denuded paleohighs and lows delineate the axis of hanging wall culminations and intervening structural depressions between forelimbs and backlimbs of the stacked sheets with residual topographic relief locally reaching 1500 m the stratigraphic and structural architecture of the early to middle miocene successions in the adana basin records a significant phase of tectonic subsidence that initiated in the early miocene followed by deposition of a thick deep water succession in an underfilled basin then relatively rapid uplift gave rise to basin inversion and erosion prior to or during the early tortonian the upper miocene global eustatic sea level fall initiated in the tortonian the transition from deep water to fluvio deltaic sedimentation in the early tortonian recorded the combined effects of a global eustatic sea level fall and regional tectonic uplift presumably related to renewed activity in the tauride orogen to the north it led to widespread erosion giving rise to a smooth unconformity surface in most of the adana basin the stratigraphic and structural relationships suggest that the onset of east directed thrusting in the trailing portion of the misis fold thrust belt occurred sometime during the lower tortonian coinciding with the switch from marine to terrestrial sedimentation the truncation by this unconformity of the folded thrusted successions of both miocene successions across the trailing thrust sheets marks the effect of progressive erosion as the thrust sheets are uplifted above base level a prominent progressive syntectonic unconformity is developed extending from the region of main thrust culminations westward into the depocentre situated on the backlimb of the leading thrust of the misis fold thrust belt much of the tortonian deposition took place within this trailing piggy back basin and the easterly onlap and the westerly tilt of this succession mark the progressive uplift of the fold thrust belt during the remainder of the tortonian terrestrial and fluvio deltaic deposition in the tortonian was succeeded in the messinian by the deposition of mixed evaporite carbonate clastic succession in the adana basin the base of this succession is a local unconformity across the tortonian succession that marks the cessation of the fold thrust activity in the east and ensuing erosion across the fill of the tortonian piggy back basin the subcrop of the messinian succession marks the edge of deposition in a paleotopographic depression situated between the tortonian misis fold thrust belt in the east and the paleoslope over the front of the reactivated tauride fold thrust belt in the north the western margin of deposition of the messinian succession was probably controlled by the development of the kozan fault zone plio quaternary subsidence created the accommodation space that allowed rapid delta progradation

sedimentology and palaeontology of the upper karoo group in the mid zambezi basin zimbabwe new localities and their implications for interbasinal correlation

the fethiye burdur fault zone a component of upper plate extension of the subduction transform edge propagator fault linking hellenic and cyprus arcs eastern mediterranean abstract the hellenic and cyprus arcs that mark the convergent boundary of the african and aegean anatolian plates are offset along a subduction transform edge propagator step fault running ne sw along the pliny and strabo trenches the continuation of the fault to the northeast through the rhodes basin and into sw anatolia is assessed seismic reflection profiles show that the structural architecture of the northern sector of the rhodes basin includes a large crustal scale fold thrust belt which is overprinted by numerous faults with small extensional stratigraphic separations a protracted episode of convergence in the miocene resulted in the development of a prominent ne sw striking and nw verging fold thrust belt in the rhodes basin the absence of evaporites in the rhodes basin and several seaward prograded vertically stacked quaternary delta successions resting at 2500 3500 m water depth collectively suggest that the rhodes basin must have remained above the depositional base of marine evaporite environment during the messinian and that the region must have subsided very rapidly during the pliocene quaternary during the pliocene quaternary a ne sw trending belt developed across the rhodes basin while the structural framework of this belt was characterised by reactivated thrusts in the central portion of the basin a prominent zone of ne sw striking and nw and se dipping faults with extensional separations developed in the northern portion of the basin two seismic profiles running parallel to the present day coastline provide the much needed linkage between the fethiye burdur fault zone onland and the reactivated thrusts in central rhodes basin and show that the pliocene quaternary zone of high angle faults with extensional separations clearly link with the similarly trending and dipping strike slip faults onland in the esen valley thus providing the continuity between the pliny strabo trenches in the southwest and the fethiye burdur fault zone in the northeast mapping of many faults in parts of the fethiye burdur fault zone shows evidence for sinistral strike slip but total displacement across the fault zone is at maximum a few tens of kilometres the step fault thus appears to have diminishing displacement associated with it as it propagates upwards into the upper plate from its originating tear in the subducting plate

miocene recent evolution of the western antalya basin and its linkage with the isparta angle eastern mediterranean abstract interpretation of 9500 km of multichannel seismic reflection profiles showed the presence of two major tectonic histories in western antalya basin spanning from the miocene or older to the pliocene quaternary a prominent fold thrust belt affects the miocene succession in the offshore the thrusts swing from a nw se strike with sw vergence in the northeast of the mapped area to a more northerly strike with westerly vergence at the western shelf edge of the deep basin the miocene deformation appears to continue offshore from the westerly directed thrusting seen onshore that characterizes the eastern edge of the isparta angle the contraction is consistent with the counterclockwise miocene rotation of the western side of the isparta angle determined from paleomagnetic studies the thrust belt forms the western extremity of the wider regional aksu kyrenia misis oroclinal culmination the tectonic activity experienced a period of relative quiescence across the western antalya basin during the messinian a major kinematic change occurred in the pliocene when the regional strain was partitioned into three spatially localized tectonic domains an extensional domain confined to the pliocene quaternary unit 1 occupied the northeastern portion of the study area a predominantly extensional domain with a few re activated pre existing miocene contractional structures occupied the southern and central portion of the study area and an extensional and or transtensional domain occupied the continental shelf and slope in the westernmost antalya basin these complexities relate to strike slip motions as the crustal block within the isparta angle moved northwards relative to the blocks to the north

complex interactions fault fans developed in a strike slip system kozan fault zone eastern mediterranean sea abstract interpretation of high resolution multichannel seismic reflection profiles shows that the kozan fault zone is characterized by northeast southwest striking and mainly southeast dipping planar faults which show significant normal sense dip separations traced toward the southeast these faults progressively swing to assume an east west trend along the northern margin of the outer cilicia basin the kozan fault zone initially occupied a wide zone of distributed strike slip translation in the early pliocene but was subsequently concentrated into a narrowly focused strike slip fault zone in the late pliocene and quaternary during the late pliocene the kozan fault zone propagated toward the southwest creating a restraining bend in the cilicia basin and a new east west oriented strike slip fault i e silifke anamur fault in the outer cilicia basin two additional fault fans with small normal sense dip separations occur across the kozan fault zone exhibiting spectacular examples of fault interferences and growth strata architectures the east west striking and south dipping fault fan developed in the early pliocene whereas the northwest southeast striking and largely northeast dipping fault fan developed in the late pliocene each fan is composed of numerous listric faults which sole on bedding parallel detachment surfaces at various levels within the pliocene quaternary succession these faults developed as the result of gravitational sliding of thick delta and prodelta successions supplied into the cilicia basin by the goksu river the change in the kinematic regime in the kozan fault zone is reflected in the dynamics of the gravitationally collapsing mass and the northwest southeast striking and largely northeast dipping fault developed a small angle between the strikes of these two fault fans prevented the lock up of the east west striking and south dipping faults so both faults set to remain active throughout the late pliocene quaternary

earthquake source parameters along the hellenic subduction zone and numerical simulations of historical tsunamis in the eastern mediterranean abstract we studied source mechanism parameters and slip distributions of earthquakes with m w 5 0 occurred during 2000 2008 along the hellenic subduction zone by using teleseismic p and sh waveform inversion methods in addition the major and well known earthquake induced eastern mediterranean tsunamis e g 365 1222 1303 1481 1494 1822 and 1948 were numerically simulated and several hypothetical tsunami scenarios were proposed to demonstrate the characteristics of tsunami waves propagations and effects of coastal topography the analogy of current plate boundaries earthquake source mechanisms various earthquake moment tensor catalogues and several empirical self similarity equations valid for global or local scales were used to assume conceivable source parameters which constitute the initial and boundary conditions in simulations teleseismic inversion results showed that earthquakes along the hellenic subduction zone can be classified into three major categories 1 focal mechanisms of the earthquakes exhibiting e w extension within the overriding aegean plate 2 earthquakes related to the african aegean convergence and 3 focal mechanisms of earthquakes lying within the subducting african plate normal faulting mechanisms with left lateral strike slip components were observed at the eastern part of the hellenic subduction zone and we suggest that they were probably concerned with the overriding aegean plate however earthquakes involved in the convergence between the aegean and the eastern mediterranean lithospheres indicated thrust faulting mechanisms with strike slip components and they had shallow focal depths h

the pliocene quaternary tectonic evolution of the cilicia and adana basins eastern mediterranean special reference to the development of the kozan fault zone abstract a grid of high resolution multi channel seismic reflection profiles allows the detailed mapping of the kozan fault zone in the cilicia and adana basins the zone is delineated by an arcuate zone consisting of several ene wsw and nne ssw striking closely spaced high angle extensional faults which define an 300 km long and 15 20 km wide lazy s shaped structure along the southeastern fringes of the taurus mountain and along the northwestern margins of the cilicia and adana basins in the cilicia basin the zone consists of several high angle faults which exhibit small dip separations on the m reflector and have tip points situated mainly in the lower and middle portion of the pliocene quaternary succession in the adana basin a family of northeast striking and southeast dipping extensional faults occurs along the western and northwestern margin of the basin the faults cut down with relatively steep dip into the 700 ms thick tortonian and older miocene successions multi channel seismic reflection profiles show that three prominent seismic markers divide the uppermost messinian recent successions in the cilicia and adana basins into three subunits the uppermost messinian lower pliocene subunit 1c between the m and a reflectors the upper pliocene subunit 1b between the a and p reflectors and the quaternary subunit 1a between the p reflector and the seafloor prominent delta lobes are identified in the seismic profiles that are correlated with the ancestral goksu river isopach maps constructed using depth converted seismic reflection profiles show clear temporal and spatial variations of the delta lobes of the goksu river during the latest messinian recent the uppermost messinian lower pliocene delta lobe is situated furthest to the northeast whereas the youngest quaternary lobe is situated furthest to the southwest with 20 35 km displacement along a northeast southwest line which suggests a conservative estimate of 0 43 0 75 cm yr sinistral slip for the kozan fault zone

mesozoic sedimentary evolution of the northwest sichuan basin implication for continued clockwise rotation of the south china block we present new sedimentary data integrated into a regional mesozoic stratigraphic framework to provide a detailed picture of spatio temporal variations in deposition and depocenter migration of the northwest sichuan basin the mesozoic sedimentary evolution is utilized to interpret basin subsidence history and to unravel coeval basin margin tectonics the northwest sichuan basin together with the songpan ganzi terrane behaved as a passive margin south of the qinling paleo tethys from late paleozoic to early middle triassic times and then evolved into a peripheral foreland basin in response to collision of the north and south china blocks since the late middle triassic coeval with strong north south contraction of the songpan ganzi terrane in the late triassic sinistral transpressional deformation of the longmen shan belt led to flexural subsidence of the adjacent western sichuan basin renewed basin margin fold thrust activity triggered recurrence of flexural subsidence of the northwest sichuan basin since the middle jurassic with the depocenter eventually shifting to the northwestern corner of the basin in the early cretaceous sedimentary evolution of the northwest sichuan basin and the basin margin deformation imply that the south china block had been rotating clockwise relative to the north china block throughout the mesozoic with an interim period of early jurassic tectonic quiescence a model is advanced that invokes clockwise rotation of the south china block as a driver for tectonic evolution of both the basin and adjoining structural belts and provides an explanation for several salient features that are otherwise puzzling

unique quaternary environment for discoveries of woolly rhinoceroses in starunia fore carpathian region ukraine geochemical and geoelectric studies in 1907 remnants of a mammoth and a woolly rhinoceros were discovered in the pleistocene clays of an earth wax mine in starunia village then in 1929 a nearly fully preserved woolly rhinoceros was found in the same mine the unique combination of clays oil and brine into which the animals had sunk is responsible for their almost perfect preservation during the late pleistocene winters when the ice and snow cover was present in the tundra paleoswamp areas of infl ow of brines oils and hydrocarbon gases had a higher temperature which resulted in melting and cracking of the cover and large mammals could be trapped geoelectric measurements as well as molecular and stable isotope analyses of gases in the near surface zone within the paleoswamp performed in 2004 2005 reveal a few places favorable to the burial and preservation of pleistocene vertebrates

coastal uplift earthquakes and active faulting of rhodes island aegean arc modeling based on geodetic inversion the geodetic inversion technique was used to model the fault pattern responsible for the uplifted holocene notches along the ne rhodes island coast se edge of the hellenic aegean arc input in the modeling was the elevation of uplifted notches up to 6000 yr old which are interpreted to reflect remains of fossil shorelines to testify to a series of earthquakes producing both uplift and subsidence i e to elastic dislocations and to correspond to geodetic data senso lato these shorelines up to 3 8 m high were probably originally continuous along the whole of the 75 km long se rhodes coast possibly locally disturbed by minor normal faults and reflect the last phases of the uplift and tilting of the island as a rather rigid block since late pliocene their radiocarbon dating was further refined from archeological data testifying to an about 1 m subsidence associated with the 227 bc earthquake followed by 3 m seismic uplift inversion constrained by the hypothesis of a compressional fault offshore rhodes was based on standard uniform slip elastic dislocation analysis it proved to depend only weakly even on extreme glacio isostatic corrections and indicated that coastal uplift is dominated by a main compressional fault zone offshore sub parallel to the island coast with normal faults inland reflecting thin skin tectonics this fault pattern similar to that of western crete is confirmed by seismic reflection profiles indicating a major reverse close to the modeled fault and can explain 1 the occurrence of strong m 7 5 historical earthquakes producing tsunamis and destruction on an east mediterranean scale 2 the alternation of uplift and subsidence as a result of fault shift inside the same fault zone and 3 the long term uplift of the island as a rather conjugate effect of the formation of an about 4 5 km deep 5 myr old marine basin se of rhodes bounded to the nw by the modeled fault zone the seismic risk of rhodes higher in its ne part of the island and than what was previously believed is associated with strong m 7 5 earthquakes producing widespread destruction tsunamis coastal uplift and coastal subsidence

pliocene quaternary tectonic evolution of the gulf of gokova southwest turkey abstract evolution of the east west trending gokova graben structure is related to the north south extension of the aegean segment of the aegean anatolian microplate the pliocene quaternary successions surrounding the onland portion of the gokova graben as well as coeval successions within the marine portion of the graben are cut by at least three families of faults that strike northwest southeast east west and east northeast west southwest these orientations are inconsistent with a simple north south extensional regime interpretation of seismic reflection profiles multibeam bathymetry and gps vectors indicates that the gokova graben developed as a lazy s shaped graben in the back arc setting north of the hellenic arc a counterclockwise rotation of the aegean segment of the aegean anatolian microplate is the suggested mechanism for this geometry as subduction zone rolled back occurred during the pliocene quaternary the gulf of gokova is the youngest of a series of basins that developed within this large back arc system including the nisyros karpathos and kamilonisi basins collectively named to as the gokova nisyros karpathos graben it is proposed that this graben experienced a scissor like opening initiating from the west during the pliocene and progressing eastward during the quaternary faults that are seemingly un correlated onland and in the marine areas become remarkably aligned when the marmaris rhodes block is progressively rotated by 6 counterclockwise relative to the mugla block using a pole position located within the gulf of gokova the scissor like opening of the westernmost regions of the gokova graben likely occurred during the late pliocene whereas the central and eastern portions of the graben developed during the early middle pleistocene and late pleistocene holocene respectively the onset of the opening of the westernmost segment of the gokova nisyros karpathos graben occurred at a time earlier than the late pliocene

flip convergence across the phoenician basin through nucleation of subduction abstract modern examples of active subduction nucleation are scarce hence knowledge is derived from reconstructions of old subduction zones and numerical modeling here we present a rare analog of induced subduction nucleation occurring today along the northeastern mediterranean continental margin geological evidence gathered here suggests that plate convergence between africa sinai arabia and eurasia anatolia since the pliocene led to fragmentation of the northern sinai plate into the phoenician and northern levant micro plates currently convergence is in the process of shifting from subduction cessation beneath the eastern cyprus arc to reactivation of the northern levant margin this shift induces the nucleation of an embryonic subduction zone through polarity reversal it re defines the front of plate convergence

model for the formation of large transtensional basins in zones of tectonic escape tectonic escape is strike slip dominated motion of colliding continental or arc crust in the direction of subductable oceanic crust i describe four examples of large transtensional basins in cenozoic zones of tectonic escape and propose that these basins formed along newly formed transtensional faults formed between the collided and escaping parts of the plate the reoriented direction of the escaping plate split along the new transtensional fault zone is determined by the presence of a free face or subductable oceanic crust continued subduction toward the free face is driven by the force of gravity acting on dense oceanic crust slab pull the four examples presented here show that a variety of transtensional deformational styles can be generated within this specific type of divergent tectonic setting these transtensional styles include pull apart basins at fault stepovers more asymmetrical rift like basins thought to be formed under conditions of fault normal extensional stresses and single or multiple short spreading ridges transtensional styles may be controlled more by the type and age of crust present than the angle of reorientation of the escaping plate

neogene development of the antalya basin eastern mediterranean an active forearc basin adjacent to an arc junction abstract detailed interpretation and mapping of high resolution multi channel seismic reflection profiles showed a two phase history for the miocene recent kinematic evolution of the antalya basin the first phase of deformation occurred in the middle late miocene when a crustal scale imbricate fold thrust belt developed this phase of deformation affected the entire antalya basin and is represented by several major northwest southeast striking north dipping and south verging thrust culminations which created a series of elongated to teardrop shaped piggyback basins the transitions from late miocene to messinian and messinian to plio quaternary are marked by the n and m reflectors which record the periods of erosion associated with the initial and final phases of desiccation of the mediterranean sea respectively a fundamental change in kinematic regime occurred during the transition from the miocene to plio quaternary during early pliocene to recent the fold thrust belt was overprinted by extensional transtensional faults in the northeastern antalya basin while transpression dominated the southwestern antalya basin this tectonic phase is related to the westward displacement of the tauride block as the eastern segment of the aegean anatolian microplate initiated its westward escape in the latest miocene to early pliocene

ductile thrusting in the himalayas shear sense criteria and stretching lineations the most useful criteria used for the determination of the sense of shear can be found in the huge himalayan ductile shear zone known as m c t they allow the determination of the sense of shear in relation with an unequivocal southward directed intracontinental thrust the various criteria analyzed at different scales of observation show the permanence of the shear flow regime throughout the metamorphic evolution however most of the observed shear criteria are due to late nappe emplacement postdating the climax of the metamorphism the most striking feature is the stretching lineation which is roughly normal to the thrust trace all along the belt it parallels everywhere the shear direction and thus indicates the transport direction of the nappes the observed radial pattern of stretch trajectories implies that the local motion does not correspond to the average plate convergence

varying tectonic control on basin development at an active microplate margin latakia basin eastern mediterranean abstract detailed interpretation of multichannel seismic reflection profiles show that the latakia basin evolved in two distinct tectonic stages southeast directed contraction that culminated in the latest miocene followed in the early middle pliocene by progressive transition to partitioned contraction and extension related to the initiation of strike slip along the eastern anatolian transform fault and its marine extensions the miocene fold thrust belt comprises two arcuate culminations enclosing a miocene piggy back depocentre situated on the backlimb of the amanos larnaka ramp anticline in the early middle miocene this piggy back basin was part of a much wider foredeep that also encompassed the miocene successions of the cilicia adana basin complex to the north the misis kyrenia fold thrust belt evolved in the tortonian effectively dividing the foredeep into two large piggy back basins our data demonstrate that a fundamental change in kinematic regime occurred during the messinian to early pliocene involving the onset of strike slip movements resulting in transtension along the northeast trending portion of the main lineaments bounding the latakia basin and continued contraction across the east trending portion of the lineaments in the northeastern portion of the latakia basin southeast directed thrusting ceased in the early messinian and was followed in the lower pliocene by the development of horst and grabzen structures bounded by faults linking onland with the strands of the east anatolian transform fault

seismic images at the convergence zone from south of cyprus to the syrian coast eastern mediterranean abstract multichannel seismic profiles from cruise 5 of the r v akademik nikolaj strakhov provide the first deep seismic reflection images and extensive coverage south and east of cyprus five nw se trending seismic lines cross an area of active continental collision main tectonic structures are the eratosthenes seamount collision zone the hecateaus rise and the latakia larnaca ridge systems the levantine basin extends to the south all over the area the data required careful processing due to the low fold coverage the reverberatory character of the signal and the strong multiple energy the seismic results clearly image the thick sedimentary sequence of the levantine basin this basin is observed to terminate abruptly at the junction with the hecateaus rise south of cyprus to the east and north the deformation appears to be partitioned along two separated structures next to the latakia and larnaca ridges they correspond to major oblique fault systems

three dimensional model of hellenic arc deformation and origin of the cretan uplift 1 the hellenic arc of greece is the most seismically active part of europe but little is know about its mechanics we modeled deformation along the arc using a finite element model the model was intended to capture large scale 3 d structure of nubian plate subduction beneath the aegean block and its deformational consequences the shape of the interface was developed using mapped traces at the surface and earthquake hypocenters at depth model block motions were constrained by recent compilations of gps velocity vectors we simulated a 10 ka period of convergence between nubia and the aegean and calculated the strain field in the overriding plate as well as the spatial distribution and orientation of differential stress 1 3 from these calculations we derived testable quantities such as the expected seismic moment rate on the interplate contact uplift pattern and distribution of strain modes our relatively simple model broadly reproduced observed uplift patterns earthquake activity and loci of extension and contraction the model showed a localization of uplift near the island of crete where the fastest aegean uplift rates are well documented comparison of calculated expected seismic moment and observed earthquake catalogs implies a nearly fully coupled interplate contact on the basis of our modeling results we suggest that south aegean deformation is driven primarily by the fast moving 33 mm a 1 aegean upper plate overriding a nearly stalled 5 mm a 1 nubian lower plate this tectonic setting thus more closely resembles a continental thrust than it does a typical oceanic subduction zone

late miocene to recent tectonic evolution of crete greece geological observations and model analysis abstract using a numerical model we focus on the late middle miocene to recent kinematic evolution of the cretan segment of the hellenic arc geological observations of crete are given a quantitative interpretation in terms of tectonic mechanisms controlling the evolution of the active arc boundary this was achieved by calculating intra plate stress fields for various possible distributions of forces and comparing the models with observations the models address specific questions concerning important changes in the observed horizontal stress patterns we deal with the question of what caused extension to initiate modelling results of the collapse of an earlier formed topography and extensional forces acting on the plate boundary are compared with a newly reconstructed tectonostratigraphy of crete our results suggest that arc normal pull is the dominant force that generates the late miocene extension in the cretan segment of the overriding plate although arc normal pull in combination with intra plate spreading forces cannot be excluded the observed transform motions in the pliny and strabo trenches led us to incorporate experiments with additional resistance on the eastern levantine segment of the hellenic arc the models performed with a transform resistance along the trenches are in agreement with the cretan deformation for the pliocene to recent period the stress fields for the short duration compressional periods around the middle late miocene and the miocene pliocene boundary are modelled by assuming resistive instead of tensional forces acting at the overriding margin

late miocene recent evolution of the finike basin and its linkages with the beydaglari complex and the anaximander mountains eastern mediterranean abstract interpretation of 2500 km of high resolution multi channel seismic reflection profiles shows that the finike basin evolved during the pliocene quaternary as the result of dramatic subsidence associated with loading of large imbricate thrust panels that carry the western tauride mountains in the north in the late miocene the stacked seaward prograded quaternary deltas presently resting at 1000 1500 m water depths corroborate the rapid subsidence of the region the ubiquitous presence of evaporites in the 2000 2400 m deep antalya basin and their absence in the 3000 3200 m deep finike basin suggest that the morphology of the finike basin and environs must have been considerably different during the messinian and that this region must have remained above the depositional base of evaporites during this time the transition from the messinian to the pliocene quaternary is marked by partitioning of stress into several discrete spatial domains a dextral strike slip fault zone developed along the western antalya basin extending from the apex of the isparta angle southward into the anaximander mountains this fault zone referred to as the antalya fault zone transected the anaximander mountains sensu lato separating the anaxagoras mountain from the anaximander and anaximenes mountains hence the finike basin sirri erinc plateau and the anaximander and anaximenes mountains remained part of the onland beydaglari block and experienced 20 counterclockwise rotation during the late miocene we envisage the boundaries of the beydaglari block as the burdur fethiye fault zone in the west the newly delineated antalya fault zone in the east and the east west trending sector of the sirri erinc plateau in the southwest kinematic evaluation of the structural elements mapped across the finike basin and the sirri erinc plateau suggest that two additional strike slip zones developed during the pliocene quaternary relaying the stress between the antalya fault zone in the east and the pliny strabo fault zone in the west

the eastern hellenic margin from crete to rhodes example of progressive collision abstract available geological and geophysical data from the eastern hellenic outer margin between eastern crete and rhodes have been interpretated and analyzed the data support the hypothesis of a progressive continental collision between the aegean domain and the african intermediate crust the resulting geological structures are compared with similar features generated elsewhere in response to crustal shortening based on distribution of epicenters bathymetry two separate and sublinear troughs and seismic profiles we propose an evolution of the area in two main episodes an activation of the margin in the upper miocene and a progressive collision starting in the pliocene

tectonics and structural zonation of southern tibet china the yarlung zangbo suture zone is composed of several thrust sheets with distinct stratigraphies states of deformation and metamorphic grades successive deformations have been produced by persistent north south shortening since obduction of the ophiolites by late cretaceous palaeocene times a possible decoupling of the crust may be associated with the intracontinental thrust system which has formed in the subducted indian plate this article emphasizes the role of shear deformations in the building of a collision belt

global positioning system constraints on plate kinematics and dynamics in the eastern mediterranean and caucasus we present and interpret global positioning system gps measurements of crustal motions for the period 1988 1997 at 189 sites extending east west from the caucasus mountains to the adriatic sea and north south from the southern edge of the eurasian plate to the northern edge of the african plate sites on the northern arabian platform move 18 2 mm yr at n25 5 w relative to eurasia less than the nuvel 1a circuit closure rate 25 1 mm yr at n21 7 w preliminary motion estimates 1994 1997 for stations located in egypt on the northeastern part of africa show northward motion at 5 6 2 mm yr also slower than nuvel ia estimates 10 1 mm yr at n2 4 e eastern turkey is characterized by distributed deformation while central turkey is characterized by coherent plate motion internal deformation of 2 mm yr involving westward displacement and counterclockwise rotation of the anatolian plate the anatolian plate is de coupled from eurasia along the right lateral strike slip north anatolian fault naf we derive a best fitting euler vector for anatolia eurasia motion of 30 7 0 8 n 32 6 0 4 e 1 2 0 1 myr the euler vector gives an upper bound for naf slip rate of 24 1 mm yr we determine a preliminary gps arabia anatolia euler vector of 32 9 1 2 n 40 3 1 1 e 0 8 0 2 myr and an upper bound on left lateral slip on the east anatolian fault eaf of 9 1 mm yr the central and southern aegean is characterized by coherent motion internal deformation of 2 mm yr toward the sw at 30 1 mm yr relative to eurasia stations in the se aegean deviate significantly from the overall motion of the southern aegean showing increasing velocities toward the trench and reaching 10 1 mm yr relative to the southern aegean as a whole

the oligocene recent evolution of the mesaoria basin cyprus and its western marine extension eastern mediterranean abstract the neogene stratigraphic and structural evolution of the mesaoria basin and kyrenia range is studied using multi channel seismic reflection profiles from their western marine extension the region north of the front of the troodos larnaka culmination constitutes a crustal scale s verging thick skinned linked imbricate thrust system comprising most of the forearc region north of the present day cyprus arc in the eocene thrust activity gave rise to the prominent growth of the troodos larnaka culmination and concurrent imbrication further north in the forearc region creating the root of the kyrenia fold thrust belt northward retreat of the active thrust front in the oligocene miocene led to the development of a foredeep across the root of the kyrenia fold thrust belt with a prominent depositional foredeep ramp situated at the current front of this belt crustal contraction continued in the miocene along the front of the troodos larnaka culmination leading to the progressive shoaling of the basin carried on the backlimb of this culmination in the late miocene thrust activity became widespread in the forearc region with structural contraction being focussed on the kyrenia fold thrust belt pliocene thrust activity in the forearc region is primarily focussed on the kyrenia fold thrust belt with much uplift occurring in the mid late pliocene but continuing to the present the mesaoria basin evolved in the miocene to pliocene as a piggy back basin our data negate earlier models that postulate a phase of crustal extension in the forearc region during the oligocene to mid late pliocene

source to sink the development of the latest messinian to pliocene quaternary cilicia and adana basins and their linkages with the onland mut basin eastern mediterranean abstract multi channel seismic reflection profiles show that there is a thick northeast southwest elongated lobe of uppermost messinian and pliocene quaternary sediments across the cilicia basin extending into the onland adana basin three prominent seismic markers divide this succession into three subunits detailed isopach maps constructed using a dense grid of depth converted seismic reflection profiles show that these three subunits display distinctive sediment distribution patterns that can be confidently related to eastward deposition from the goksu river to the west subsidence rates calculated at 95 locations within the cilicia and adana basins using osxbackstrip show that the central axis of the cilicia adana basin complex is subsiding at a rate of 10 20 mm per year the subsidence rates sharply decrease both toward the misis kyrenia fault zone in the south and east and the turkish continental margin in the west and north to values of 0 10 0 15 mm per year subsidence rates were 0 10 0 20 mm per year during the deposition of the middle and upper pliocene but decreased to 0 05 mm per year sedimentation rates calculated for the three subunits compared to the present day rate of sedimentation by the goksu river clearly show that sedimentation in the early pliocene interval was significantly greater than it is today the data show that the dramatic subsidence of the cilicia basin 2000 m since the messinian occurred in synchroneity with the rise of the mut basin nestled over the central taurus mountains the adjacency of the mut and cilicia basins suggests that there must be a common local cause for the uplift of the mut basin and the subsidence of the cilicia basin we believe that the rise of the central taurus mountains represents an additional load on the underlying asthenosphere the isostatic response of which would have caused the subsidence in the cilicia basin

reply to the comment by m c alcicek on the fethiye burdur fault zone a component of upper plate extension of the subduction transform edge propagator fault linking hellenic and cyprus arcs eastern mediterranean tectonophysics 635 80 99 by j hall a e aksu i elitez c yaltirak and g cifci this confirms our previous suggestions that the fethiye burdur fault zone is a 75 90 km wide left lateral fault zone

dramatic pliocene quaternary subsidence of the southern rhodes basin and concomitant north tilting and uplift of the anaximander mountains the junction of hellenic and cyprus arcs eastern mediterranean sea abstract the anaximander mountains and the rhodes basin at the junction of cyprus and hellenic arcs are one of the tectonically most complex regions in the eastern mediterranean harmonically tilted messinian and the uppermost messinian pliocene successions across the northern and eastern margins of the rhodes basin showed that these regions experienced dramatic subsidence exceeding 1500 2500 ms 1125 1875 m 1500 m s 1 during the upper pliocene quaternary tilted upper pliocene quaternary growth strata wedges showing apparent north directed downlap along the northern foothills of the anaximander mountain suggested that this region experienced 1000 2500 ms 750 1125 m concomitant uplift the absence of faults showing extensional stratigraphic separations and the relative subsidence rates calculated using amount of tilting collectively suggest that the rhodes basin experienced sagging of its deeper basinal regions which is attributable to the loading effect of the building of the tauride mountains modified by the vertical axis rotations of the beydaglari block and the island of rhodes and the horizontal axis rotation of the anaximander mountain messinian and uppermost messinian pliocene were tectonically relatively quiet as shown by the harmonically structured and isopachous successions across the rhodes basin and anaximander mountain this interval coincides with the paleomagnetically determined 9 counterclockwise vertical axis rotation of the island of rhodes the dramatic subsidence observed within the rhodes basin and the concommitant uplift of the anaximander mountain and its western extension occurred broadly coincident with southeast tilting of the island of rhodes and its associated 500 600 m subsidence between 2 5 and 1 8 ma the northwest tilting between 1 5 and 1 1 ma and the associated re emergence of the southeastern coast the large counterclockwise rotation of the island of rhodes since 0 8 ma corresponds with the enormous subsidence observed across the northeastern sector of the rhodes basin which brought the shelf edge deltas from the near sea level to their present day depth of 1200 1500 m

earthquake generation in cyprus revealed by the evolving stress field abstract strong earthquake occurrence m 6 0 onshore and offshore the cyprus island constitutes significant seismic hazard because they occur close to populated areas seismicity is weak south of the island along the cyprean arc and strong events are aligned along the paphos transform fault and larnaka thrust fault zone that were already known and the lemessos thrust fault zone that defined in the present study by combining the past history of strong m 6 0 events and the long term tectonic loading on these major fault zones the evolution of the stress field from 1896 until the present is derived although uncertainties exist in the location magnitude and fault geometries of the early earthquakes included in our stress evolutionary model the resulting stress field provides an explanation of later earthquake triggering it was evidenced that the locations of all the strong events were preceded by a static stress change that encouraged failure the current state of the evolved stress field may provide evidence for the future seismic hazard areas of positive static stress changes were identified in the southwestern offshore area that can be considered as possible sites of future seismic activity

post messinian evolution of the florence rise area western cyprus arc part ii experimental modeling abstract the florence rise is located southwest of the island of cyprus and belongs to the western part of the cyprus arc the florence rise is an accretionary prism with some amount of strike slip where the thick layer of evaporitic messinian decouples deformation in the post messinian cover from that in the pre messinian basement the basement structural highs whether presently active or inactive influence the deformation and displacement patterns of the salt and its overburden our first experiment focused on the presence in nature of normal faults located above basement thrusts deformation of the salt layer and its overburden was influenced by several processes on one hand the entire model was subjected to regional shortening and basement thrusts formed on the other hand the local vertical rise associated with basement thrusts created local slopes down which the salt and overburden glided gravitationally in some places leading to the formation of normal faults in an otherwise compressional regional setting our second experiment was designed to model the buttressing effect of the florence rise and the eratosthenes seamount on thin skinned displacement patterns during regional gravity spreading of the nile cone results indicate that in the northeastern distal region buttressing by these two basement highs forced the salt and its overburden to flow northeastward as a lateral escape toward the free boundary of the region

the neogene evolution of the outer latakia basin and its extension into the eastern mesaoria basin cyprus eastern mediterranean the neogene stratigraphic and structural evolution of the eastern mesaoria basin is studied using multi channel seismic reflection profiles from the eastern marine extension of the basin into the outer latakia basin the region includes three major tectonic elements troodos larnaka culmination kyrenia fold thrust belt and the intervening mesaoria and outer latakia basins the troodos larnaka culmination is a large ophiolite cored ramp anticline developed above a deep seated s verging thrust complemented by a footwall imbricate thrust fan system extending into the cyprus basin the outer latakia basin is a large piggy back basin carried on the northern flank of the troodos larnaka culmination the kyrenia fold thrust belt is developed as a s verging trailing imbricate fan system these three tectonic elements form part of a crustal scale s directed linked thrust system which has a protracted tectonic history with major pulses of contraction in the eo oligocene the late miocene and the middle plio quaternary this system extends southward well into the cyprus basin and probably links with the subduction zone between the african plate and the anatolian microplate patterns of thrust activity in this linked thrust system exclude models of s migration of the plate boundary from mid tertiary to recent instead the upper plate is viewed as a broad zone of diffuse convergence distributed across a number of active fold thrust zones

post messinian evolution of the florence ridge area western cyprus arc part i morphostructural analysis abstract the florence ridge part of the western cyprus arc is a compressional relief that was eroded during the messinian salinity crisis while deposition of salt occurred north antalya basin and south herodotus abyssal plain in order to better assess the impact of salt tectonics in the florence ridge region deformations we conducted a morpho structural analysis of available multibeam and seismic data simed and prismed ii campaigns it is indeed a crucial issue to distinguish crustal and gravity driven structures in the compressional to strike slip belts of the eastern mediterranean along the antalya basin we mainly observed multi directional tectonic rafts typical of gravity gliding above salt on the florence ridge itself the base of salt evolves laterally to a messinian erosional surface that erodes a series of stacked nappes this surface is involved in recent faulting south of the florence ridge a nearly 100 km wide fold belt characterizes the herodotus abyssal plain three different zones parallel to the florence ridge appear within this fold belt those are respectively from north to south zones a b and c zone a is characterized mainly by small wavelength folding and faulting approaching zone b a long extensional graben deforms the seafloor zone b stands 100 to 200 m higher than zones a and c there salt welding seems common in the easternmost zone b deep sub circular bathymetric depressions are associated with extremely thick and fan shaped depocenters probably emplaced in relation with active sub salt thrusts many evidences suggest post messinian uplift in this zone zone c shows medium to high wavelength salt cored folds wavelength of those folds increase approaching the distal nile deep sea fan within zone c a nearly undeformed domain exists approaching the eratosthenes seamount en echelon folds bound this flat domain suggesting lateral salt extrusion at the junction between zone c and the distal nile deep sea fan to conclude numerous evidences argue for a post messinian reactivation of the pre messinian florence ridge accretionary wedge numerous folds uplifted zones the salt as on the nearby mediterranean ridge decouples deep and surface deformations and even allow the development of isolated grabens and associated salt ridges in the heart of the florence compressional zone we propose in this case that local basal slope of salt increase related to basement fault activity triggered gravity gliding and thus extensional deformation despite the regional compressional regime finally this study shows that the eastern nile deep sea fan submitted to extremely vigorous salt tectonics seems to have collided with the florence ridge fold belt and to have generated a salt extrusion zone

origin and evolution of the neogene iskenderun basin northeastern mediterranean sea abstract detailed interpretation of multichannel seismic reflection profiles and biostratigraphic data from exploration wells shows that the iskenderun basin evolved as a broad depocentre during the early miocene between the tectonically active front of the taurides in the west and northwest and the uplifted kizildag hatay ophiolite complex in the south and southeast the eastern portion of this large miocene basin is represented in the subsurface of the iskenderun basin by two westerly dipping tilted wedges which display progressive onlap to the east over the ophiolitic basement this architecture suggests that they developed as growth strata wedges in a piggy back basin on the trailing limb of a large easterly transported ophiolite thrust sheet the well data show that the emplacement of this thrust sheet occurred progressively from the serravallian to the upper messinian in the eastern portion of the iskenderun basin the presence of the lower wedge in the footwall of the ophiolite cored thrust culmination and the presence of the upper growth strata wedge of the upper subunit of unit 3 onlapping the forelimb of the thrust culmination show that the main phase of thrust activity was initiated later in the serravallian with uplift continuing to the tortonian the absence of messinian evaporites over the crest of the culmination demonstrates that the structure was an erosive paleohigh in the messinian the absence of lowermost pliocene strata in the eastern iskenderun basin suggests that this region remained emergent at that time whereas deposition occurred without significant interruption to the west over the backlimb portion of the culmination the seismic and well data show that contractional deformation in the iskenderun basin had ceased prior to the development of the m reflector as an erosional unconformity the data further suggest that the transition between the late miocene fold thrust structures and the thick plio quaternary succession along the northwestern margin of the iskenderun basin is defined by a fundamental angular unconformity developed by deep erosion of the leading edge of the fold thrust belt as represented by the m reflector the plio quaternary forms a thick relatively undisturbed wedge which shows east and south directed onlap over the northwestern flank of the kizildag hatay ophiolitic basement high and the southeastern flank of the misis fold thrust belt we infer that the iskenderun basin was primarily a miocene intramontane depression that was passively filled during the plio quaternary by predominantly deltaic sedimentation with extensional faults providing minor accommodation space