reactivation of the levant passive margin during the late tertiary and formation of the jaffa basin offshore central israel re examination of the stratigraphic record in the continental margin of israel indicates that the levant passive margin was reactivated in the late tertiary subsidence and presumably sedimentation rates increased after prolonged gradual decay the shelf slope facies transition zone was revived faulting and magmatism resumed and the judea hills began to rise two parallel fault systems with large vertical displacements were formed or reactivated between the levant basin and the continent in the levant basin a new 4 km thick section accumulated and at a middle level between the two faults a local basin was formed and filled with a 2500 m thick section that basin termed here the jaffa basin provides good age control it was initiated in the mid late oligocene was mainly active in the miocene and was completely buried by sediments in the plio pleistocene we suggest that at the early stage of the arabia africa breakup in conjunction with the suez rifting the jaffa basin was formed between two segments of a left lateral fault that allowed arabia to slip northward relative to the mediterranean lithosphere when this fault failed to transform the motion both the suez rift and the jaffa basin were abandoned and the plate motion jumped inland to the dead sea transform

a major late devonian early carboniferous hercynian thermotectonic event at the nw margin of the arabian nubian shield evidence from zircon fission track dating zircon fission track zft ages of 17 precambrian samples from deep boreholes and outcrops in southern israel and sinai fall within the range 328 373 ma late devonian early carboniferous single zircon grain age distributions are unimodal with a high chi square probability the age data indicate total resetting of the zft clocks but only partial resetting of coexisting sphenes constraining the temperatures attained to about 225 50 c followed by relatively rapid regional cooling at the times indicated in the study area the lower paleozoic section presently overlying precambrian rocks is limited to cambrian strata up to 300 m thick further stratigraphic evidence for sub carboniferous erosion is preserved only in sw sinai to the east in southern jordan a 2 2 5 km thick lower paleozoic succession is reported despite the lack of stratigraphic evidence in the study area the zft data 1 strongly suggest that an equivalent or thicker section also existed 2 constrain the timing of the erosion to late devonian early carboniferous hercynian and 3 indicate that thermal gradients may have reached 50 c km prior to the uplift erosion event regional stratigraphic evidence indicates that the late devonian early carboniferous event was confined to a relatively narrow belt extending from the gulf of suez area to the vicinity of ne syria and se turkey

tectonic evolution of the southern levant margin since mesozoic abstract recognition of syndepositional faults and mechanical analysis of fault slip data are used to reconstruct a high resolution tectonic evolution of israel and to characterize the stress fields associated with the major tectonic deformation events of this area since mesozoic times syndepositional normal faults recognized in mesozoic and paleogene rocks indicate three extensive deformation phases that were active at least during early jurassic campanian and eocene times inversion of fault slip data indicate that a ne sw extension characterizes the two first events whereas orientation of extension during the eocene was n s to nne ssw several scenarios are proposed to explain these newly documented normal faults measured faults also document synchronous strike slip and reverse regimes unambiguous chronological relationships between fault data and bedding attest that a wnw ese to nw se compression is associated with the syrian arc folding event during the late cretaceous times this compression pursued during the development of the dead sea transform plate boundary but its relationship with neogene structures is unclear fault data suggest that folding during the neogene was driven by a regional nnw sse compression a minor ne sw compression was also recognized but no compatible large scale structures were found to date we also show that the post pliocene normal faults developed under a ne sw extension

salt tectonics off northern israel the messinian evaporites in the eastern mediterranean represent a world class site to study thin skinned salt tectonic processes like gravity gliding or gravity spreading in contrast to the mesozoic evaporites in the atlantic the related structures are just slightly overprinted by additional tectonic events new high resolution reflection seismic data image for the first time the entire lateral succession of gravity gliding related features as they were suggested by analog models and demonstrate therewith the validity of those models for the messinian evaporites all three regimes of extension translation and compression are present within the range of the seismic profiles however additional observations lead to an adapted and improved model the generation of a critical slope angle caused by subsidence of the levantine basin is considered to be the main driving force for the thin skinned salt tectonics and the lateral basinward creep of the basinal messinian evaporites in the extensional section beneath or near to the continental slope where the basinal evaporites have been withdrawn listric and antithetic listric growth faults rollovers and keystone grabens form asymmetric turtleback structures above salt welds and salt rollers further basinwards an area with little or no deformation of the evaporites defines the translational segment in the compressional region the lower and thickest part of the evaporites show ductile deformation buckle folds and the upper evaporites reveal brittle deformation reverse faults and pop up structures here the basinal evaporites have a maximum thickness of about 1500 m the extensional zone shows continuous synsedimentary tectonic activity until recent times whereas the compressional structures have developed later in a rather sudden event there is clear evidence for neotectonics off the israeli coast which is not related to salt dynamics faults cut through the entire pile of evaporites and the post messinian overburden where the faults pierce the sea floor mud escape structures have been observed deep rooted faults have been interpreted at the base of the messinian paleo slope suggesting a shear zone off israel and parallel to the dead sea transform

late cretaceous to palaeogene thin skinned tectonics of the palmyrides belt syria abstract detailed mapping in the palmyrides belt syria shows that its structure resulted from thin skinned tectonics and includes duplexes anticlinal stacks and imbricate thrusts in the frontal palmyrides the main decollement level is formed by triassic evaporites but a cenomanian marl interval locally forms a subsidiary decollement ramps linking the two decollement levels generate duplexes formed by thin horses of jurassic and lower cretaceous material to the north in the central palmyrides the decollement ramps down from a triassic to an eocambrian level in which it continues as a main basal decollement the ramp connection between the cambrian and triassic decollement levels is responsible for the anticlinal structure of the central palmyrides bilas block accurate mapping balanced cross sections and forward deformation modelling allowed calculation of the amount of shortening of the sedimentary cover the minimum estimate is 20 km this independent field based result is compatible with previous estimates from a general seismic study of the cenozoic mesozoic series due to the presence of folded neogene deposits the deformation of the palmyrides belt was thought to be miocene pliocene in age however eocene carbonates unconformably overlie various thrust units in the frontal palmyrides reconstruction indicates 15 km of shortening during the late maastrichtian to upper eocene and 5 km of shortening since the late miocene thus the main shortening event of the palmyrides occurred during the palaeocene seismic well and gravity data are used to integrate the shallow structure in a crustal scale deformation model gravity modelling confirms previous interpretations of a relatively flat moho beneath the palmyrides belt and suggests that deformation of the belt resulted from a movement of the sedimentary cover of northern syria 20 km to the south along a 200 km long flat decollement within the eocambrian this syrian decollement between the sedimentary cover and the basement is supposed to root down north of syria within the north arabian plate boundary such a decollement implies four times more shortening in the sedimentary cover than in the palmyrides basement

controls on erosional retreat of the uplifted rift flanks at the gulf of suez and northern red sea the gulf of suez and red sea rifts are currently bordered by large asymmetric uplifts that are undergoing erosion we find that the amount and timing of erosion vary systematically along the strike of the margin and have been controlled by variations in the prerift stratigraphy the prerift strata are composed of cliff forming eocene cretaceous carbonates overlying the easily eroded cretacous cambrian nubian sandstone this lithologic succession promotes scarp retreat of the sedimentary section followed by dissection of the underlying basement the prerift section thins from over 2000 rn at the northern end of the rift to less than 400 rn at its junction with the red sea thus at the northern part of the gulf of suez the nubian sandstone is minimallyexposed and the carbonates form a scarp at the rift border fault farther south undercutting of the carbonates by erosion of the sandstone has resulted in scarp retreat the escarpment cuts diagonally away from the border fault and is over 100 km inland from the border fault at the southernmost gulf of suez the amount of retreat varies inversely with the sediment thickness exposure and erosion of basement are initiated by the retreat of the escarp ment and the depth of erosion as indicated by fission track ages increases with distance from the escarpment these observations are explained by a model in which erosion along the gulf of suez is initiated as rift flank uplift becomes sufficiently large to expose the friable sandstones undercutting of the escarpment and exhumation of basement has been propagating northward and westward for at least 20 m y the average rate of scarp retreat has been 6 km m y and the along strike propagation of the erosion has been 12 km m y the diachronous erosion of the the rift flanks at the gulf of suez highlights the importance of distinguishing between the timing of uplift and of erosion both thermochronometric and stratigraphic data primarily indicate the timing of erosion which may differ significantly from the timing of the uplift that initiates it they must be interpreted carefully to avoid erroneous conclusions about rift tectonics

the uplift of the troodos massif cyprus we constrain the fault pattern and the kinematics of faulting that facilitated the uplift of the troodos massif in cyprus in the eastern mediterranean the fault pattern consists of e w striking re

late tertiary faulting along the coastal plain of israel 1 this study documents a 70 km long and 200 400 m high step at the base of the pliocene section in the israeli coastal plain depositional explanations for this lineament such as a buried shelf edge or reef front are very unlikely whereas a fault scarp explanation is supported by seismic profiles and geological cross sections the eastern elevated side of the fault was eroded before its burial though a quantitive distinction between this erosion earlier truncations and original hiatuses is not possible at this stage sediments covering the fault scarp constrain its age to late miocene and or early pliocene the presence of such a fault along the israeli coastal plain may also shed light on numerous post mid cretaceous faults previously documented along the coastal plain but never explained in a wider perspective the fault described here along with other documented processes indicate that in the late tertiary tectonism along the levant continental margin resumed after a long passive history this renewed activity is coeval with the africa arabian breakup and the red sea suez rifting in particular the fault described here is coeval with plate reorganization and vertical motions along the dead sea transform and possibly along the cypriot arc during the late miocene early pliocene

the syrian arc system an overview abstract a comparison between the ne directed negev and palmyra foreland monoclines of the syrian arc shows strong similarity in both their statigraphy and late mesozoic and cenozoic tectonic history a first phase of simple folding in the senonian was followed by a phase of reverse faulting in the miocene and ended with a phase of post miocene uplift in the style of fault bend fold this triple deformation of the north arabian subplate was contemporaneous with the thrusting of the tauros zagros zone the ne sw direction of the syrian arc as well as many other structures on the african and arabian plates are an inherited ancient feature predating any contact with the eurasian plate the continental drift proposed for turkey and arabia is reviewed and rejected for both the amounts of horizontal displacement of the dead sea rift and the east anatolian fault are estimated to be 45 and 27 km respectively it is suggested that the stress system upon the levant has been nw directed since the late cretaceous to the present time the dead sea rift n s stress direction is a local post miocene response to limited regional shift and to intense uplift

tectonic development of the eastern mediterranean region an introduction the eastern mediterranean is one of the key regions for the understanding of fundamental tectonic processes including continental rifting passive margins ophiolites subduction accretion collision and post collisional exhumation it is also ideal for under standing the interaction of tectonic sedimentary igneous and metamorphic processes through time that eventually lead to the development of an orogenic belt below we will outline some milestones in the development of tectonic related research in the eastern mediterranean region we will mention how studies of the eastern mediterranean contrib ute to our understanding of fundamental tectonic processes and indicate how papers in this volume contribute to this aim current and emerging research themes will be highlighted we will also outline the main alternative tectonic reconstructions of the region see fig 1 and mention which of these the different contributors favour tethyan nomenclature remains controversial and we will suggest an appropriate informal terminology for the various oceanic basins that existed an entr6e to some of the key literature sources is also provided citations here are mainly to edited volumes which provide access to this large subject area many of the papers in this book integrate and synthesize large amounts of geological information for extended periods of geological time the papers are ordered in a general time sequence with a view to linking those that consider comparable tectonic setting and pro cesses the locations of the areas are shown in figures 2 and 3 figure 2 also shows the main sutures and figure 3 illustrates the main neotectonic elements of the region

permian early mesozoic tectonism and continental margin formation in israel and its implications for the history of the eastern mediterranean summary the early mesozoic tectonic reorganization of the tethys region also affected the levant area here two processes were superimposed a the pattern of long wavelength vertical motions of the arabo nubian platform changed in the late permian when israel and nearby areas began to subside b rifting occurred in this subsiding area probably in several phases late anisian and ladinian carnian norian and liassic differential movements reached 2 3 km and magmatism occurred in the liassic and perhaps also in the triassic the tectonism was strongly felt up to 50 km landward of the present coast the crust was thinned and modified under the present continental margin and in the main rifts passive margin conditions were established in late liassic times over the previously faulted area later in the jurassic a carbonate shelf was constructed along this subsiding margin its basinward edge was 1 1 5 km high which shows that the adjacent se mediterranean was already a deep sea hence this basin and its passive margin are considered to have been shaped by the early mesozoic rifting which is recognized in israel the rifting process probably signifies oblique separation of the tauride block from the levant part of gondwana

new age constraints on the evolution of the mt carmel structure and its implications on a late miocene extensional phase of the levant continental margin abstract the mt carmel structure is one of the most prominent topographical elements along the levant continental margin and is the surface expression of a deep tectonic structure the use of 3d seismic data allows us to set new constraints on the uplift of the carmel structure and define the or akiva fault as its southern boundary the or akiva fault was created during a late miocene extensional phase that had also created the carmel fault at the northern edges of mt carmel the different topographic expression across these two boundary faults reflects a change in the post miocene activity where activity along the or akiva fault ceased and its southern side began subsiding whereas its northern side bordered by the carmel fault continued to rise we conclude that the late miocene north south extension previously recognized only along branches of the dead sea transform in northern israel and lebanon affected larger areas than previously thought and can be related to regional kinematic changes during the breakup of arabia from africa and its collision with eurasia

petroleum prospects of lebanon some remarks from sedimentological and diagenetic studies of jurassic carbonates abstract only seven exploration wells have been drilled in lebanon to date failing to encounter oil or gas in commercial quantities and to penetrate into unexposed pre jurassic reservoirs this paper shows that the sedimentological and diagenetic characteristics of the major lebanese jurassic carbonate rock unit the kesrouane formation thickness 1000 m negate jurassic hydrocarbon prospectivity in northern mount lebanon the jurassic platform in this region was subjected to a first emergence and invasion by meteoric waters in the late jurassic causing a pervasive cementation a second phase of uplift and meteoric flushing occurred in the cenozoic thus only the areas located far from the jurassic and post cretaceous phreatic realms e g offshore tripoli nw lebanon may have been less affected by meteoric diagenesis and still provide promising prospects a 1993 seismic survey offshore tripoli confirmed the presence of late triassic evaporites in northern lebanon this also adds confidence to the results of the nahr ibrahim electrical survey which earlier suggested the presence of these evaporites in the subsurface of central lebanon the pre jurassic sequence hence is sealed and protected from the meteoric invasion observed in the overlying jurassic rocks accordingly the qartaba horst structure central northern lebanon would be equally if not more attractive for a pre jurassic play

the enigma of the jonah high in the middle of the levant basin and its significance to the history of rifting abstract recent giant gas discoveries within deeply buried structural highs in the middle of the levant basin have attracted the attention of the industrial and academic communities striving to understand the origin of such structures their relations to the tectonic history of the basin and their evolution through time here we focus on the jonah high which is one of the largest structures in the basin and is particularly enigmatic in its geometry dimensions and location compared to nearby structures it is buried under more than 3 km of late tertiary sediments and is associated with one of the largest magnetic anomalies in the basin though no significant gravity anomaly is observed previous studies raised several possibilities explaining its origin an ancient horst related to the early stage of basin formation late paleozoic or early mesozoic a syrian arc fold late cretaceous to neogene a giant volcanic seamount and an intrusive magmatic body a reconstruction of the evolution of this structure is proposed here based on newly produced pre stack depth migration of five selected seismic reflection lines crossing the jonah high combined with a basin wide interpretation of more than 500 2 d time migrated lines we suggest that the jonah high is a horst bounded by grabens most probably formed during continental breakup related to the neo tethys formation however unlike other extensional structures that were reactivated and inverted during the syrian arc deformation the jonah high was never reactivated rather it formed a prominent seamount that persisted for 120 140 ma until the early miocene when it was finally buried in a wider perspective the jonah horst is similar to the eratosthenes seamount a fragment of continental crust between the levant and herodotus basins

lithofacies and cyclicity of mohilla evaporite basins on the rifted margin of the levant in the late triassic makhtesh ramon southern israel marine connected basins with evaporites occur beneath most extensional continental margins that originated at low latitudes and often are of major economic significance cyclicity in the evaporite lithofacies reflects the degree of restriction of the basin overprinted by sea level changes and caused by structural movements in the barrier region whether by fault block rotation footwall uplift or hanging wall subsidence in both extensional and compressional basins the upper triassic evaporites of the ramon section in southern israel model cyclic sedimentation in such environments the mohilla formation is a carbonate evaporate siliciclastic succession of carnian age that fills a chain of basins extending along the levant margin from southern israel to jordan and syria the basins developed in half grabens adjacent to normal faults that formed during a period of regional extension evaporites of this formation are well exposed in outcrops at makhtesh ramon the southernmost of these basins the m2 member of the mohilla formation is composed of 42 sub metre cycles of alternating dolostone gypsum and calcareous shales field and microfacies analysis showed these cycles to conform mostly to restricted shallow and marginal marine environments spatially limited by the uplifted shoulders of the half graben systems a total of 10 facies types belonging to six depositional environments have been identified from stacking patterns and analysis of bed to bed change cycles can be categorized into three groupings i low frequency exposure to exposure cycles that developed under eustatic or climate control ii high frequency deepening shallowing upward cycles characterized by gradual transitions due to short term sea level or runoff event oscillations possibly referable to orbital forcing and iii high frequency shallowing upward cycles characterized by abrupt transitions attributable to sporadic tectonic events affecting accommodation space or barrier effectiveness the way facies and cycling of the sedimentary environments was deciphered in the mohilla evaporite basin can be used to unravel the genesis of many other evaporite basins with barriers of tectonic origin

seismotectonics of the sinai subplate the eastern mediterranean region summary we define the sinai subplate from a seismotectonic perspective as a distinct component in the plate tectonics of the eastern mediterranean region this is based on the tectonic characteristics of a comprehensive listing of all ml 4 recorded seismicity in the region during the 20th century on newly calculated and recalculated fault plane mechanisms of first p wave arrivals and on published solutions based on waveform inversion of broad band data the low seismicity level and scarcity of strong events in the region required a thorough search for useful data and a careful examination of the reliability of the focal solutions we gathered all available records of first p wave onsets from the iss and isc bulletins and the local seismic networks altogether we were able to calculate 48 new focal mechanisms and 33 recalculated ones of events that occurred during the years 1940 1992 with the increasing number of teleseismic and regional broad band stations in the later years we added 37 solutions based on teleseismic and regional waveform inversions of events that occurred during 1977 2001 these mechanisms enabled us to examine the seismotectonic character of the sinai subplate the strike and rake directions of the calculated mechanisms usually reflect the geometry and the large scale type of deformation observed along the boundaries of the sinai subplate the dead sea transform the cypriot arc convergent zone and the suez rift nevertheless along each of these boundaries we found anomalous solutions that attest to the complexity of the deformation processes along plate margins earthquakes along the dead sea transform exhibit mainly sinistral transtension and transpression reflecting its leaky manner and local change in the transform geometry the presence of other unexpected mechanisms near the transform however reflects the heterogeneous deformation it induces around as expected thrust mechanisms along the cypriot arc mirror its convergent nature and typical curved geometry transtension and transpressional solutions in the eastern segment of the arc reflect the sinistral shear motion between anatolia and sinai there however shear mechanisms found between cyprus and the eratosthenes seamount pose a problem regarding its collision process most intriguing of all are ml 4 thrust and shear solutions found in the gulf of suez they are associated with predominantly normal mechanisms within a rift zone and therefore constitute a unique phenomenon yet to be deciphered

stratigraphic evidence for shear in structural development of the triassic levant margin new borehole data on the epicontinental to deep marine transition in israel abstract triassic tectonic movements that include shear along a significant portion of the levant margin are evidenced from microfacies analysis of material recovered from the asher atlit 1 ga ash 2 meged 2 devora 2 and ramalla 1 onshore boreholes seismic studies showed that structural lineaments attributed to early mesozoic extension underlie coastal and central israel trending ne sw beneath southern israel and sub parallel to the then extensional palmyride basin of syria a more curved trend approximately nnw sse lies to the north beneath central israel coast parallel sedimentary domains formed above these lineaments which constitute the newly formed passive margin of the levant coast in the triassic the sedimentary history of these domains indicates that some were linked to each other and others disconnected the relative vertical movement between one domain and another is explained by activation of transpressional and trans tensional shear movements on the underlying curved faults these subordinate vertical movements also created the discontinuous barriers and small subsiding basins that separate the epicontinental sedimentary domain from the open tethys causing partial restriction necessary for the intermittent development of thick evaporites in the internal domains alternating with a regionally suppressed carbonate system this zone is here named the onshore levant margin shear zone olmsz shear was invoked theoretically in a number of models for the tectonic evolution of the eastern mediterranean as part of a neotethyan opening system this paper provides rock based evidence for such shear applicable to 20 of the eastern levant margin in the triassic

the dead sea rift from continental rift to incipient ocean abstract the dead sea rift is a 600 km long approximately 20 km wide geomorphological depression showing a topographic relief of 1 000 to 3 000 m from the axial depression to the mountainous margins in many places the rift is the northern extension of the red sea young oceanic spreading centre and it is built of a series of internal basins the rift is the product of vertical displacements that downfaulted its floor and uplifted its margins but some sinistral strike slip offset affected the rift as well the tectonic evolution of the rift started probably in the pliocene subsequent to the termination of the intensive tectonic activity in the suez rift the transition of the tectonic activity from suez rift to the dead sea rift is due to a probable clockwise jump of the northern extension of the red sea spreading centre the dead sea rift with its internal basins and faulted precipitous escarpments presents an exceptional example for the earliest stages of the evolution of continental break up and of nascent passive continental margins tectonic interpretations of the voluminous geological and geophysical data from the rift and its margins are complicated because the information is equivocal part of the data suggests that the rift is an extensional structure whereas another part indicates that the rift is a product of regional sinistral strike slip faulting however it is suggested that the equivocal data are not necessarily conflicting because the evolution of the rift is probably associated with oblique resultant displacement of combined normal and strike slip faulting the quantitative ratio between the extensional and the lateral offset processes in the dead sea rift is controversial there is ground to presume that large downfaulting of the rift floor and intensive erosion of its uplifted margins removed and obscured critical data that could have provided reliable correlation between the eastern and western flanks nevertheless reconstruction of mesozoic depositional fades zones across the rift apparently indicates that the lateral displacements are approximately 10 km and seismic reflection profiles suggest vertical offsets reaching 7 km the series of secondary internal basins in the rift that seem equivalent to the linear system of axial basins in the northern red sea support the concept that the dead sea is under a tectonic regime that is comparable to the one that affected the red sea in the miocene these findings and the 25 to 50 reduction of crustal thicknesses underneath the rift indicate an incipient oblique oceanic spreading centre

morphological and structural relations in the galilee extensional domain northern israel the lower galilee and the yizre el valley northern israel are an extensional domain that has been developing since the miocene prior and contemporaneously to the development of the dead sea fault dsf it is a fan shaped region bounded in the east by the n s trending main trace of the dsf in the north by the bet kerem fault system and in the south by the nw se trending carmel fault the study area is characterized by high relief topography that follows fault bounded blocks and flexures at a wavelength of tens of km a synthesis of the morphologic structural relations across the entire galilee region suggests the following characteristics 1 blocks within the lower galilee tilt toward both the southern and northern boundaries forming two asymmetrical half graben structures opposite facing and oblique to one another 2 the lower galilee s neighboring blocks which are the upper galilee in the north and the carmel block in the southwest are topographically and structurally uplifted and tilted away from the lower galilee 3 the southern half graben along the carmel fault is topographically and structurally lower than the northern one combining structural and geological data with topographic analysis enables us to distinguish several stages of structural and morphological development in the region using a semi quantitative evolutionary model we explain the morpho structural evolution of the region our results indicate that the galilee developed as a set of two isostatically supported opposite facing half grabens under varying stress fields the southern one had started developing as early as the early miocene prior to the formation of the dsf the northern and younger one has been developing since the middle pliocene as part of the extension process in the galilee elevation differences between the two half grabens and their bounding blocks are explained by differences in isostatic subsidence due to sedimentary loading and uplift of the northern half graben due to differential influences of the regional folding d 2003 elsevier b v all rights reserved

tectonic processes in offshore northern israel and the evolution of the carmel structure abstract the carmel structure in northern israel is an elevated tilted block that extends from the land into the continental shelf and divides the levant continental margin into two distinct provinces its axis trends at a high angle to the levant margin and deflects mesozoic and cenozoic sedimentary and basement rocks the carmel structure is probably older than the levant margin itself and has been through several phases of activity most of the multichannel seismic profiles in the offshore of northern israel were reprocessed through time migration and then interpreted the resultant maps combined with gravimetric magnetic and bathymetric maps show a complex tectonic picture of the carmel structure and its vicinity four evolutionary stages can be recognized in this area a early mesozoic rifting along the present levant margin we speculate that the carmel was at that time a triple junction a thick mesozoic volcanic and carbonatic section of more than 6500 m indicates rapid subsidence probably accompanied by normal faulting b folding along the nne axis this is probably part of the syrian arc compressional system which was active from the late cretaceous until the eocene normal faults of the previous stage were probably reactivated becoming reverse faults c left lateral strike slips faulting this formed a north west fault system which resulted in a clockwise rotation of segments of the fold axis and was active from the late miocene to early pliocene d a tensional tectonic regime prevails since the pliocene and is probably still active at present the well pronounced kishon graben which extends from land to the continental shelf was formed during this period the first two stages are of regional extent whereas the latter stages are the reslt of local modification of the regional stress fields

uplift and denudation history of the eastern dead sea rift flank sw jordan evidence from apatite fission track thermochronometry 1 the dead sea rift dsr developed along the dead sea transform plate boundary is characterized by salient flanks and morphotectonic asymmetry apatite fission track thermochronology aft along 1200 m high vertical profiles in neoproterozoic basement and overlying cambrian sandstone in southwestern jordan is used to reconstruct timing magnitude and rate of uplift and denudation of the eastern dsr flank and examine its relationship to rift development and its flank landscape time temperature models based on aft data suggest three major phanerozoic heating and cooling episodes late paleozoic early cretaceous and oligocene the latest episode on which this study focuses indicates uplift of 3 8 0 3 km under a moderate paleogeothermal gradient about 40 of the uplift was tectonically driven with the remainder attributed to isostatic rebound in response to denudation and erosion models suggest that uplift commenced in the oligocene with a considerable part occurring prior to development of the dsr despite being 200 km from the red sea gulf of suez rift margin uplift is probably part of a regional rearrangement along the western arabian platform margin occurring at the time of red sea rift initiation transition from primarily sedimentary layer stripping most likely by scarp retreat to one of dominantly incision of the underlying crystalline basement occurred in late miocene pliocene time following enhanced subsidence and development of a low base level in the dsr consequently the magnitude of uplift by isostatic rebound due to incision exceeded lowering by surface truncation and increased summit elevation and riftward flexing of the flank

the mid cretaceous carbonate system of northern israel facies evolution tectono sedimentary configuration and global control on the central levant margin of the arabian plate

large scale vertical and horizontal circulation in the north atlantic ocean abstract observations of large scale hydrography air sea forcing and regional circulation from numerous studies are combined by inverse methods to determine the basin scale circulation average diapycnal mixing and adjustments to air sea forcing of the north atlantic ocean dense overflows through the denmark strait and faroe bank channels are explicitly included and are associated with strong vertical and lateral circulation and mixing these processes in the far northern atlantic play a fundamental role in the meridional overturning circulation for the entire ocean accompanied by an upper cell of mode water and intermediate water circulation the two cells converge roughly at the mean depth of the midocean ridge crest the labrador sea water layer lies within this convergence south of the overflow region model derived mean diapycnal diffusivities are o 10 5 m2 s 1 or smaller at the base of the thermocline and diapycnal advection is driven primarily by air sea transformation on outcropping layers

collision and rifting in the tethys ocean geodynamic implication abstract the tethys ocean was formed 250 m y ago when gondwana collided with laurasia since then and up to its closure about 40 50 m y ago the development of the ocean was dominated by repeated jumps of the spreading axes to the passive margin of gondwana splitting of microcontinents their transportation across the ocean and accretion to the active margin of eurasia it appears that jumps of the spreading centre and rifting of the passive margin coincided with periods of major collisions on the active margin several epochs of collision and rifting are described the late permian mid late triassic late jurassic early cretaceous end of the early cretaceous late eocene the simultaneous occurrence of rifting and collision has important geodynamic implications and it cannot be explained if only the forces applied to plate margins i e slab pull and ridge push are considered as the plate drying forces slab pull did not act in times of collision when the subduction zone was blocked by continental fragments and the ridge push creates compression but not extension on the passive margin it is suggested instead that the conveyor belt process of transportation of continental masses from the passive to the active margin of tethys was governed by north directed convective flow in the asthenosphere in times of collision when lithospheric plates were unable to move with the flow the latter created great tensile stresses in the overlying lithosphere that led to formation of rifts and then to new spreading centres

mesozoic unconformities in israel characteristics mode of origin and implications for the development of the tethys abstract nine breaks in the mesozoic stratigraphic column of israel are described in terms of their hiatus type of contact residual deposits and areal extent using these criteria and by reference to published global eustatic sea level curves three of the stratigraphic breaks are correlated with global eustatic sea level lowstands triassic jurassic boundary toarcian aalenian late turonian coniacian one probably represents a condensed sequence resulting from a rapid sea level rise middle callovian four are related primarily to rifting and extension tectonics of the incipient anisian carnian pliensbachian sinemurian or evolving early neocomian tethys and one reflects a folding phase of the syrian arc fold system related to the early closure stages of the tethys campanian maastrichtian by careful scrutiny of stratigraphic breaks on the margins of the arabian craton and by recognition of eustacy related events important stages in the tectonic evolution of the tethys can be reconstructed

paleomagnetism and the evolution of pangea we present new apparent polar wandering apw paths for the latest carboniferous to middle jurassic of europe northern asia north america and gondwana the paths have been constructed by ordering the paleopoles into a time sequence and calculating running averages globally this statistical analysis cannot be carried back before the latest carboniferous because the paleomagnetic record becomes inadequate the polar paths have all been rotated along with the land masses from which they have been observed into the classical configuration of wegener pangea a as quantified by later workers the mean paleopoles agree in the early jurassic but disagree in the latest carboniferous permian and early triassic this result is insensitive to reasonable choices made regarding the arrangement of the continents within gondwana it is true either for results from gondwana as a whole or from africa and south america alone this disagreement in apw paths suggests but does not prove that pangea a lasted for only a short interval of time in the early to middle jurassic 190 170 m y and perhaps the latest triassic 200 m y alternatively we may say either that the paleomagnetic record is biassed by sampling inadequacies or by systematically incorrect age assignments or that the earth s field has been non dipolar we regard these explanations as less likely although they cannot be discounted the polar paths can be reconciled by rotating gondwana anticlockwise by about 35 relative to laurasia placing africa beneath europe and south america beneath eastern north america this configuration is called pangea b pangea b could be a valid reconstruction for the latest carboniferous and early permian approximately 290 260 m y pangea b provides a statistically satisfactory resolution of the paleomagnetic problem it also provides a symmetrical arrangement of the continents bordering the appalachian hercynian fold belt for the late paleozoic which pangea a does not it provides a satisfactory framework for the early evolution of the gulf of mexico and it provides an explanation of the absence of geological evidence for a tethys ocean in the paleozoic the transition between b and a cannot be accurately reconstructed from the paleomagnetic data because the resolution of the record is as yet inadequate but it presumably occurred by a 3500 km minimum dextral megashear between laurasia and gondwana during the late permian and triassic approximately 250 200 m y without the formation of ocean between them and was accompanied by lesser motions between north america and europe the sense of megashear is the same as that invoked by arthaud and matte 1977 on geological grounds but the magnitude and timing are different our interpretation favors the idea that continental drift is a continuous process not confined to jurassic and later times but extending backwards into the triassic and permian we suggest that pangea was not an immobile configuration as envisaged by wegener and most subsequent workers but that it evolved more or less continuously

palaeozoic early tertiary tethyan evolution of melanges rift and passive margin units in the karaburun peninsula western turkey and chios island greece

bathymetry of the levant basin interaction of salt tectonics and surficial mass movements abstract a new high resolution bathymetric map of the levant basin between israel and the eratosthenes seamount reveals previously undetected folds faults and channels the map facilitates a regional map view analysis of structures that were previously examined only in cross section the systematic mapping of morpho structural elements in the entire basin is followed by a kinematic interpretation that distinguished between two main processes sculpting the seabed from bottom and top salt tectonics and sediment transport we show that the contractional domain related to salt tectonics is far more complex than previously thought ridges previously interpreted as contractional folds are in fact surficial undulations of the seabed reminiscent of sediment waves moreover other folds previously interpreted as downdip contraction of the westward gliding plio quaternary section are in some parts of the basin caused by updip climbing of this section eastwards as a result of the regional pattern of salt flow away from the nile cone in the context of sediment transport we show that the northern sinai continental slope is covered by a dense net of turbidite channels whereas the levant slope has no channels at all particularly interesting is the levant turbidite channel described and named here for the first time this feature begins at the southeastern corner of the mediterranean at water depths of 1100 m continues along the valley between the sinai and levant slopes and reaches the deepest part of the basin in water depths of 2500 m northeast of the eratosthenes seamount however this prominent feature cannot be explained by the current drainage consisting of two minor rivers that enter the basin at that point and thus most likely reflects periods of wetter climate and or lower sea level when these rivers were more active and possibly connected to the submarine channel system

evolution of the levant margin and western arabia platform since the mesozoic introduction the levant area comprises the offshore levant basin lb eastern corner of the eastern mediterranean as well as the adjacent continental slopes and platforms of the african and arabian plates this area experienced major events of the geodynamical evolution of the middle east such as the late palaeozoic early mesozoic pangea break up the late cretaceous cenozoic closure of the neo tethys and individualization of the arabian plate as well as a set of external factors like global sea level and climate changes this volume combines original data from the offshore and onshore levant in various fields including sedimentology palaeontology sequence stratigraphy geochemistry structural geology stress reconstitution and geophysics seismic lines palaeomagnetism all together these multidisciplinary approaches allow the review of the development of the lb and gain a better insight on the later geological history and deformation processes of the levant provinces the levant describes a composite area that includes 1 the offshore levant basin lb eastern corner of the eastern mediterranean in the west 2 the afro arabian continental slope and platform which is today largely emerged along the eastern mediterranean coast of egypt israel lebanon and syria and in jordan and disrupted by the dead sea fault and 3 the cyprian arc and nw syria collision zones that mark the southern boundary of the eurasian plate fig 1 during the last decades acquisition of geophysical and geological data allowed imaging of the crustal structures and the sedimentary infill of the lb together with detailed tectonic and sedimentary field investigations in the onshore levant these studies discover the basin forming and filling processes modern interpretations indicate that the lb resulted from rifting but much controversy exists on several aspects such as the age and kinematics of its opening or the nature of its crust the late cretaceous to present day period includes several discrete more or less widespread tectonic events in relation with the interaction of the arabian african and eurasian plates that resulted in the division of the levant into several provinces depending on the areas tectonic structures and timing of deformation are more or less constrained the sedimentation patterns observed in the meso cenozoic sequences of the lb and surroundings correlate in a high degree with the tectonic processes however various further factors acted on top such as global sea level or climate changes and the recognition of their relative contribution to the sedimentation processes is a still not finished puzzle this special publication of the geological society of london combines new multidisciplinary datasets acquired recently onshore and offshore levant a special aim of the volume is to demonstrate new concepts on the tectonic stratigraphic sedimentologic and environmental evolution of the lb and african and arabian platforms periods considered cover both the late palaeozoic early mesozoic phase of basin development and the late cretaceous to cenozoic deformation period associated with the closure of neo tethys and the incipience of the dead sea transform middle east basin evolution levant

the sequence stratigraphy of mesozoic successions in the levant margin southwestern israel a model for the evolution of southern tethys margins the levant margin in the subsurface of the eastern mediterranean area formed during the early mesozoic following rifting and subsequent opening of the southern tethys ocean this work describes the stratigraphic evolution of the shelf edge and slope for this margin in southwestern israel and in the adjacent mediterranean sea the study is based on the interpretation of 27 wells and 92 seismic reflection lines totaling 2000 km 1243 mi depositional sequences and sequence boundaries of the jurassic and the cretaceous age inferred from seismic reflection terminations wireline log stacking patterns lithofacies and biostratigraphic data six low order and 22 high order depositional cycles were identified their stratigraphic architecture reflects shifts of depocenters from the basin to its margin controlled by eustasy and regional subsidence aggrading and backstepping of carbonate platforms in the levant shelf is associated with relative rises in sea level progradation of siliciclastic and carbonate slopes toward the basin is related to relative drops in sea level the stratigraphic framework of the levant margin presented here is in accordance with recently published mesozoic sequence stratigraphy of the arabian platform therefore it may be used as a working model for reconstructing other rifted tethyan margins in the region this study further emphasizes the reservoir potential of jurassic and cretaceous deep water lowstand wedges offshore israel where extensive exploration efforts are currently occurring

lithospheric strength variations as a control on new plate boundaries examples from the northern red sea region abstract the complex plate boundary between arabia and africa at the northern end of the red sea includes the gulf of suez rift and the gulf of aqaba dead sea transform geologic evidence indicates that during the earliest phase of rifting the red sea propagated nnw towards the mediterranean sea creating the gulf of suez subsequently the majority of the relative movement between the plates shifted eastward to the dead sea transform we propose that an increase in the strength of the lithosphere across the mediterranean continental margin acted as a barrier to the propagation of the rift a new plate boundary the dead sea transform formed along a zone of minimum strength we present an analysis of lithospheric strength variations across the mediterranean continental margin the main factors controlling these variations are the geotherm crustal thickness and composition and sediment thickness the analysis predicts a characteristic strength profile at continental margins which consists of a marked increase in strength seaward of the hinge zone and a strength minimum landward of the hinge zone this strength profile also favors the creation of thin continental slivers such as the levant west of the dead sea transform and the continental promontory containing socotra island at the mouth of the gulf of aden calculations of strength variations based on changes of crustal thickness geotherm and sediment thickness can be extended to other geologic settings as well they can explain the location of rerifting events at intracratonic basins of backarc basins and of major continental strike slip zones

platform to shelf edge transect triassic of northern israel north arabian plate abstract a transect of the middle to late triassic from the epicontinental belt to the shelf edge of the north arabian margin is presented based on new data from two boreholes in northern israel two sedimentary systems are encountered along this traverse the inland meged 2 borehole represents the seaward extension of the epicontinental belt with shallow to deep water carbonates salina evaporites and basinal shales while ga ash 2 on the levant margin was positioned on an isolated platform separating the internal shelf basin system from the open tethys displaying a shallower range of facies that is free of evaporites proximal distal facies shifts are bundled into five low order lo t r cycles ranging from anisian pelsonian to norian each composed of numerous high order ho shallowing upwards cycles meged 2 paleoenvironments imply an interior basin trapping sediments of the epicontinental belt with numerous ho facies shifts indicating pulses of subsidence ga ash 2 contains lofer like peritidal cycles and a late anisian early carnian hiatus in place of the second lo cycle the two orders of cycling are controlled by extrabasinal regional or eustatic change and synsedimentary vertical movements the divergent sedimentary patterns of the late anisian late carnian can be attributed to nw se trans tensile movements impacting on earlier neotethyan extensional trends synsedimentary movements represented locally by uplift at ga ash 2 and subsidence at meged 2 controlled the influx of sea water into the epicontinental zone and consequently controlled the alternation of evaporite vs carbonate systems in the latest carnian early norian these facies belts become locked together forming a shallow high energy shelf this change reflects broad uplift and shifting of the locus of active differential movement into the levant basin

the origin of sedimentary basins a status report from the task force of the international lithosphere program abstract better insights into the mechanisms of basin formation have a direct bearing on the predictive power of forward models for basin fill models that link flexure normal faulting and thrusting on a subbasin scale provide important constraints on the tectonic control of the sedimentary record enabling a quantitative comparsion with eustatic contributions to the basin architecture thus of special importance is the need to link processes with different spatial and temporal scales involved in the evolution of extensional and compressional basins by numerical modelling a new generation of basin modelling concepts and techniques is one of the main objectives of the task force origin of sedimentary basins of the international lithosphere program the focus of this work is on the quantification of the effects of the thermomechanical structure of the lithosphere and its interplay with regional and local stress changes other important developments include the step towards three dimensional modelling and the full integration of rapidly expanding fission track and other data sets to constrain vertical motions in basins as natural laboratories for the interactive testing and development of new basin modelling techniques a number of basins with high quality data from industry government and academia have been selected on the basis of specific testable problems

morphostructure growth patterns and tectonic control of the rhone and nile deep sea fans a comparison the rhone and the nile rivers shape the sediment distribution of the ligurian and the levantine basins in the mediterranean sea respectively both rivers cut huge canyons in their bed rock during the messinian desiccation of the mediterranean and the subsequent early pliocene marine transgression reached far inland both in france and in egypt the sediment supply of both rivers was affected by climatic variations during the pleistocene but whereas glacial periods were associated with reduced water flow in the rhone they can be correlated with enhanced flow of the nile the sediment distribution and accumulation patterns of both rivers built large deltas on their continental shelves during high sea level stands during lowstands both rivers flowed as far as the shelf e ge and transported their sedimentary load through the continental slopes directly to their deep sea fans the patterns of sediment distribution and accumulation in the marine basins of the ligurian and the levantine seas were affected also by pliocene quaternary tectonic activity and halokinetic offsets that led to sediment instability the present hydrographic and sedimentological regimes of both rivers do not represent their natural potential due to artificial interference the principal economic significance of the deep sea fan accumulation process is the transportation of medium and coarse grained sediments into the deep marine basin considering the effect of these sediments on stratal permeabilities and hydrocarbon potential the presented comparative overview emphasizes recent and subrecent sedimentological aspects that are critical to petroleum exploration in active and extinct deep sea depositional environments

active transcurrent fault system along the north african passive margin abstract along the southern boundary of the eastern mediterranean extends a wnw trending narrow zone about 1000 km long of possible transcurrent faulting it terminates on both sides at areas of crustal extension the tyrrhenian sea on the west northwest and the gulf of suez on the east southeast from the southern tyrrhenian sea the fault zone runs through the strait of sicily rift zone the ionian sea the base of the continental margin of eastern lybia and western egypt into the land area through the apex of the nile delta and eventually into the gulf of suez studies of the fault pattern in the strait of sicily indicate that the rifting processes there are associated with a major dextral shear zone right lateral movement is also consistent with the deformation along the southeastern extension of the fault zone i e the sense of offset of a series of bathymetric depressions located along the base of the continental margin of eastern lybia and western egypt which we interpret as pull apart basins formed by transcurrent faulting crustal structure may play an important role in controlling the location of the fault zone on both ends adjacent to the zones of crustal extension in the tyrrhenian sea and the gulf of suez the fault is located within a continental crust in the strait of sicily and in northern egypt in between in the ionian sea and at the base of the continental margin of eastern lybia and western egypt it is located in between provinces of continental crust on the south and oceanic crust on the north

3d seismic analysis of circular evaporite dissolution structures eastern mediterranean buried circular collapse structures above a tabular evaporitic body are recorded by recently acquired 3d seismic data on the levant basin and continental margin offshore israel eastern mediterranean the structures formed during the pliocene as buried messinian late miocene evaporites underwent extensive dissolution in a submarine deep water setting three dimensional seismic analysis is used to describe the detailed morphology of the structures and the associated overburden allowing the reconstruction of their origin and development it is proposed that evaporite dissolution led to the collapse of the weakly lithified overburden and this deformed with a series of concentric extensional faults from the structural analysis of the overburden the estimated maximum duration of the dissolution event is 0 75 1 ma the mechanism proposed for the creation of the circular collapse structures is subjacent dissolution of the more soluble evaporites in the messinian evaporites as a result of focused vertical fluid flow at the base of the evaporitic series rapid release of overpressured fluids as for example during an earthquake is thought to have initiated the focused fluid flow which impinged on the evaporitic seal to the point where dissolution occurred creating the localized circular collapse structures in the overburden

magnetic anomalies over the central levant continental margin abstract the magnetic field over the central levant continental margin off northern israel and southern lebanon and the adjacent levant basin has two distinct trends mount carmel and its offshore continuation carmel nose which are the surface expression of a large subbottom structure that extends from the land area across the continental shelf to the continental slope form a dividing zone between the two magnetic trends south of the carmel structure the magnetic field trends east west while north of the carmel structure it trends northeast and north northeast several pronounced magnetic anomalies exist mainly north of the carmel structure the majority of which trend north northeast and northeast parallel and sub parallel to the trend of the magnetic field in this area some also trend northwest perpendicular to the trend of the magnetic field in several cases the magnetic anomalies indicate large lithological elements which continue from land to sea gravity and seismic refraction data show that the two magnetic domains north and south of the carmel structure are associated with areas of different crustal structure south of the carmel structure the continetal oceanic crustal transition zone is located beyond the continental margin at the base of the continental slope while north of the carmel structure it is located under the continental shelf near the shore on land there are also differences in the structure of the crust north and south of the carmel structure the crust being much thinner north of the structure than south of it we suggest that some of the large magnetic anomalies off the central levant were formed during the rifting phase of the eastern mediterranean

a revised sea level curve for the early jurassic a comparison is undertaken of three different methods of eustatic sea level analysis 1 shallowing and deepening transgressive events inferred from the facies sequence 2 changes through time in the areal spread of epicontinental seas 3 seismic stratigraphy the results of these methods are compared mainly with reference to the lower jurassic new data are brought forward from several continents in a stage by stage study and it is concluded that thelias was characterized by interrupted sea level rise with no major regressions both the transgressions and regressions were relatively rapid with the major transgressions associated with widespread anoxic bottom waters estimates of the net amount of sea level rise through early jurassic time range from 75 m to 110 m

geometry and subsidence history of the dead sea basin a case for fluid induced mid crustal shear zone 1 pull apart basins are narrow zones of crustal extension bounded by strike slip faults that can serve as analogs to the early stages of crustal rifting we use seismic tomography 2 d ray tracing gravity modeling and subsidence analysis to study crustal extension of the dead sea basin dsb a large and long lived pull apart basin along the dead sea transform dst the basin gradually shallows southward for 50 km from the only significant transverse normal fault stratigraphic relationships there indicate basin elongation with time the basin is deepest 8 8 5 km and widest 15 km under the lisan about 40 km north of the transverse fault farther north basin depth is ambiguous but is 3 km deep immediately north of the lake the underlying pre basin sedimentary layer thickens gradually from 2 to 3 km under the southern edge of the dsb to 3 4 km under the northern end of the lake and 5 6 km farther north crystalline basement is 11 km deep under the deepest part of the basin the upper crust under the basin has lowerpwave velocity than in the surrounding regions which is interpreted to reflect elevated pore fluids there within data resolution the lower crust below 18 km and the moho are not affected by basin development the subsidence rate was several hundreds of m m y since the development of the dst 17 ma similar to other basins along the dst but subsidence rate has accelerated by an order of magnitude during the pleistocene which allowed the accumulation of 4 km of sediment we propose that the rapid subsidence and perhaps elongation of the dsb are due to the development of inter connected mid crustal ductile shear zones caused by alteration of feldspar to muscovite in the presence of pore fluids this alteration resulted in a significant strength decrease and viscous creep we propose a similar cause to the enigmatic rapid subsidence of the north sea at the onset the north atlantic mantle plume thus we propose that aqueous fluid flux into a slowly extending continental crust can cause rapid basin subsidence that may be erroneously interpreted as an increased rate of tectonic activity

plate tectonic evolution of the mediterranean middle east region abstract an interpretive model for the mesozoic cenozoic plate tectonic evolution of the mediterranean and adjacent areas is illustrated by a series of paleoposition maps at selected intervals between the late triassic and recent this interval witnessed an important period of tensional development during the triassic and jurassic that fragmented pangea after its late paleozoic consolidation a number of oceanic areas evolved through jurassic time all of which have since been consumed during the alpine orogeny during the cretaceous and tertiary sea floor spreading geometry in the north and south atlantic resulted in convergence between africa and eurasia that controlled the evolution of the mediterranean and adjacent middle east areas from the late mesozoic to recent the interpretation departs from several previous ones in the following respects 1 1 the eastern mediterranean and adjacent middle east area are interpreted to have developed as two seaways with an intervening continental sliver derived from africa that now comprises central turkey and west iran these seaways persisted from the late triassic to late cretaceous by which time they were largely consumed by northward subduction 2 2 spreading that produced the present eastern mediterranean sea developed during the late cretaceous driving the tripolitza eratosthenes iskenderun continental fragments northward from africa to collision with central turkey as the preceding southern arm of the mesozoic tethys sea floor was entirely consumed initial block faulting in this zone occurred during the jurassic and early cretaceous but without subsidence reaching clearly bathyal depths until the cenomanian turonian this differs from the timing of events in the ionian sequence of the pindic nappe of crete which shows a change from shallow carbonate shelf in the triassic to deep basin in the liassic to the north of equivalent platform facies of the tripolitza nappe 3 3 moesia and rhodope are concluded to have been a single plate until a rifting event that started during the late jurassic the balkan mountains are interpreted to represent an alpine inversion of this mesozoic rift system that extended west from the black sea basin 4 4 the eastern carpathian microcontinental sliver is concluded as continuing southward as the serbo macedonian massif that separates rhodope from the vardar zone rather than as rhodope itself 5 5 the scutari pec lineament is considered as representing a major discontinuity between the apulia pannonian plate and adjacent greece and turkey ophiolites to the northwest of this lineament originated in a single oceanic area the vardar zone ophiolites to the southeast of this lineament evolved from two oceanic areas those of interior greece and northern anatolia and the associated ankara melange relating to the vardar zone the former north arm of tethys and the pindos southern anatolia zagros oman ophiolites relating to a former south arm of mesozoic tethys 6 6 based on the history of development of various elements of the alpine system there is a strong suggestion that important dextral movement took place along a major strike slip fault system reaching from the middle east to the central alps between late cretaceous and middle eocene times

some outstanding issues in the geology of lebanon and their importance in the tectonic evolution of the levantine region abstract the concept of pervasive and disruptive late neogene quaternary strike slip tectonics in lebanon has made establishing a satisfactory pre neogene palaeogeographic and palaeotectonic history for the area difficult research has allowed clarification of three fundamental issues that permit the setting of lebanon against its adjacent regions to be more firmly assigned the first issue is the identification of the significance of the 100 km long nne ssw trending monocline of the western lebanon flexure this feature is interpreted as a modified and rejuvenated early mesozoic hinge line that is presumed to be the northern continuation of the carmel sinai hinge line to the south the second issue is the correlation of the mount lebanon bekaa and anti lebanon complex with the adjacent intracontinental palmyride fold belt of syria through recognition in each of common divisions in structural style between a higher northern zone dominated by broadly spaced box folds and a lower southern zone with more numerous closely spaced and more internally complex folds the third issue involves the identification of major two stage late cretaceous to palaeogene syrian arc tectonism within lebanon resolution of these issues suggests a tectonic model for the region whereby the levantine region formed in two main phases the first of these was the multiphase late palaeozoic early mesozoic rifting of the area which imposed a fundamental extensional fabric over much of the region the second tectonic phase was the subsequent inversion of these extensional structures in the two stage syrian arc deformation of senonian and late palaeogene age which gave rise to the main lebanon structures it is this syrian arc tectonism rather than the late cenozoic strike slip that was probably the main structuring agent which affected the lebanon area the transpression from the braided dead sea fault motion although locally complex is an essentially neotectonic overprint on an already existing fabric offset of syrian arc structures in lebanon suggests that the total sinistral motion of the yammouneh fault segment of the dead sea fault is around 47 km

late tertiary seismic facies and structures of the levant passive margin off central israel eastern mediterranean abstract the late tertiary seismic facies and structures of the levant passive margin off central israel in the eastern mediterranean sea were studied by the interpretation of more than 3000 km of seismic reflection profiles most of them previously unpublished single channel profiles the neogene growth and evolution of this margin was influenced by the interaction of three main processes 1 the outbuilding and loading of the margin by the nile sediments since the pliocene 2 uplift and tectonic subsidence related to the tectonic activity along the dead sea transform and 3 the effect of the above processes on the thick messinian evaporites which caused many salt tectonic features including flowage piercement diapirs slumps and en echelon listric normal faults in the supra salt sediments we suggest that the study area may be divided into two segments north and south of caesarea these segments vary in their depositional environment the amount of sediment supply and load salt related features and tectonic activity we propose that the northern segment is affected by low sediment supply and by the continued uplift of the carmel structure and that this segment may even be a part of this structure the southern segment has been affected by the deposition and loading in the nile derived sediments since the pliocene three main depositional sequences were observed in the southern segment 1 sequence i early pliocene onlaps the top of the messinian evaporites representing a rise of sea level and renewed subsidence 2 sequence ii early pleistocene is lens shaped thinning to the north west and east and was derived during a relatively short time interval from the pre nile and 3 sequence iii since the pleistocene represents a major episode of continental shelf construction

the leviathan miocene diapir a novel insight into the tectonic evolution of the southern levant basin eastern mediterranean abstract the leviathan gas field is the largest accumulation so far discovered in the southern levant basin within the turbiditic tamar sand complex the discovery of this and other fields in the basin was made possible following acquisition of a vast amount of data since 2000 a consensus has been reached that the basin is dominated by early mesozoic extensional blocks related to opening of the neotethys while miocene folds formed as a result of its closing through the study of geophysical data over the leviathan gas field and its vicinity it is suggested that most of what we observe today has been formed since the early miocene and that the alleged old blocks are actually intrusive bodies their structural timing is accurately constrained by well and seismic data but not their composition as none has yet been penetrated at any borehole mud diapirism is currently assumed as volcanic or magmatic origin is discarded by magnetic data and salt is yet a remote possibility the tectonic reconstruction suggests that the levant basin developed during the mesozoic and early cenozoic as a set of regional highs and lows that were buried since the early tertiary until the early miocene by thick conforming sequences including potential reservoir rocks such as the gas bearing turbiditic sands it was then subject to an extensional tectonic regime associated with diapirs in the southern part of the basin that formed folded structures while rotational blocks developed to the north offshore lebanon the implications of this tectonic setting on petroleum systems are of prime importance widespread intrusions may have breached old traps if they existed on the other hand they formed potential traps such as the proven gas filled structures and potentially others at depth presence of reservoir rocks and the timing of expulsion and migration from deep sources are the main geological risks

crustal structure of northern israel abstract in the course of a seismic refraction wide angle reflection experiment in the eastern mediterranean an east west reversed refraction profile was recorded onshore northern israel the purpose of the line was to obtain reliable velocity and structural information about the crust in this area in addition a multi coverage reflection profile was shot over part of the refraction profile the results indicate that the crust in northern israel is a high velocity continental crust considerably thinner than the crust to the south the reflection profile indicates an unusually reflective upper crust and a transparent lower crust similar to those recorded at a number of compressional belts the overall results confirm the presence of a crust which is markedly different from that encountered to the south the provenance of which is probably very different

ptolemais basin the tectonic origin of a senonian marine basin underneath the southeastern mediterranean sea abstract the large litani anticline that was recently discovered in the se mediterranean basin sheds new light on the regional tectonic history of the levant in the late cretaceous the anticline is buried under 5 km of undeformed sedimentary series its apex was leveled by erosion and its folding can be dated to the early senonian the seismic reflection data suggest that shortly after the structural development of the anticline in a shallow marine environment and under compressional stresses the regional tectonic regime turned extensional and the anticline subsided into the open marine environment of ptolemais basin that subsidence can be dated to the senonian as well it is suggested that the litani anticline is a part of the syrian arc and its deformation and subsequence subsidence reflect the complex tectonic regime of southern anatolia where the continental collision with arabia and the subduction of the neo tethys oceanic crust took place concurrently the litani anticline and the ptolemais basin thus show that contrasting tectonic regimes and their structural derivatives could evolve at a very fast rate

accelerated subsidence and sedimentation in the levant basin during the late tertiary and concurrent uplift of the arabian platform tectonic versus counteracting sedimentary loading effects 1 since the middle eocene the northwest arabian platform has been emerging from the water and rising above sea level whereas the adjacent levant basin has been subsiding and accumulating a thick sedimentary section this study investigates these opposing vertical motions and the relative roles of tectonic driven versus isostatic adjustment forces involved such a distinction is strongly dependent on a reliable estimation of the paleobathymetry which in pelagic environments may vary substantially we use two different methods to estimate the paleo water depth in the deep levant basin in the tertiary time isostatic balancing calculations with the adjacent inland region are employed to estimate the paleo water depth in the deep levant basin in the middle eocene just before the commencement of the late tertiary tectonic phase for later periods we use morpho structural elements such as abrasion surfaces and incised canyons to build laterally changing topo bathymetry profiles our results indicate that in the mid eocene water depth in the deep levant basin was 2 3 5 km which gradually decreased to 1 5 km today based on these results our analysis shows that the enhanced subsidence of the levant basin reflects an isostatic response to sedimentary filling of a pre existing deep water basin with no involvement of a downward tectonic force on the contrary we suggest that the regional tectonic force was upward counteracting a sedimentary loading effect further regional implication of this understanding is that the cause for uplifting and exposure of the nw arabian platform in the late tertiary extended far westward beyond the inland region

crustal structure of the levant basin eastern mediterranean abstract a seismic refraction wide angle reflection experiment was undertaken in the levant basin eastern mediterranean two roughly east west profiles extend from the continental shelf of israel toward the levant basin the northern profile crosses the eratosthenes seamount and the southern profile crosses several distinct magnetic anomalies the marine operation used 16 ocean bottom seismometers deployed along the profiles with an air gun array and explosive charges as energy sources the results of this study strongly suggest the existence of oceanic crust under portions of the levant basin and continental crust under the eratosthenes seamount the seismic refraction data also indicate a large sedimentary sequence 10 14 km thick in the levant basin and below the levant continental margin assuming the crust is of cretaceous age this gives a fairly high sedimentation rate the sequence can be divided into several units a prominent unit is the 4 2 km s layer which is probably composed of the messinian evaporites overlying the evaporitic layer are layers composed of plio pleistocene sediments whose velocity is 2 0 km s the refraction profiles and gravity and magnetic models indicate that a transition from a two layer continental to a single layer oceanic crust takes place along the levant margin the transition in the structure along the southern profile is located beyond the continental margin and it is quite gradual the northern profile north of the carmel structure presents a different structure the continental crust is much thinner there and the transition in the crustal structure is more rapid the crustal thinning begins under western galilee and terminates at the continental slope the results of the present study indicate that the levant basin is composed of distinct crustal units and that the levant continental margin is divided into at least two provinces of different crustal structure

collision related break up of a carbonate platform eratosthenes seamount and mud volcanism on the mediterranean ridge preliminary synthesis and implications of tectonic results of odp leg 160 in the eastern mediterranean sea abstract drilling of the eratosthenes seamount south of cyprus documented incipient collision of the african and eurasian plates the oldest sediments recovered mid cretaceous shallow water limestones are overlain by upper cretaceous to lower oligocene pelagic carbonates with several hiatuses following uplift a carbonate platform was established in the miocene eratosthenes was then below eustatic sea level during the messinian desiccation crisis the platform subsided to bathyal depths during the lower pliocene associated with localized breccia deposition further subsidence occurred in late pliocene early quaternary coeval with strong surface uplift of southern cyprus subsidence and break up of eratosthenes was achieved by a combination of flexural loading and normal faulting in addition the milano and napoli mud volcanoes were drilled on the northern flank of the mediterranean ridge accretionary complex south of crete a mainly extrusive sedimentary origin is indicated multiple debris flows include clasts of sandstone and limestone of at least partly miocene age both mud volcanoes are dated as 1 ma old and have been active episodically hydrocarbon gas is associated with both mud volcanoes while methane hydrates clathrates exist locally at milano the driving force of mud volcanism is overpressuring caused by incipient plate collision messinian evaporites may have acted as a localized seal material escaped through a zone of backthrusting against rigid cretan crust to the north

large scale submarine rotational slumps and growth faults in the eastern mediterranean submarine slumps with areas of 1000 km2 and more disturb the continental margin of israel and nearby areas in them the plio quaternary silty clayey sediments up to 1 5 2 km thick are broken by shore parallel growth faults into 5 10 blocks which are generally rotated and tilted landward the faults flatten downward and become rooted in ridges formed by deformation of the underlying mobile messinian evaporite bearing series deformation is thin skinned and does not visibly extend to deeper levels slumping occurred only where a sufficiently thick overburden accumulated over a sufficiently well developed mobile substrate then gravitational instability developed and led to basinward sliding of the continental margin sediments over the messinian series which acted as a lubricant and a level of decollement the mobility of this series is probably caused by overpressured shale beds that are confined between the impervious evaporites this mechanism explains all the features of the slumps hitherto faults directly related to the slumps of the eastern mediterranean were not identified but since the region is tectonically active it is not possible to exclude the possibility that basinward sliding was triggered either by motion of minor underlying faults or by seismic shaking however it seems that even if this were the case slumping could be triggered only because the continental margin was anyhow gravitationally unstable or close to such a state therefore the gravitational instability was the main factor that controlled the deformation of the pliocene quaternary sediments the slumps of the eastern mediterranean resemble large scale slumps that are known from other passive continental margins in the world

plate convergence in the cyprean arc abstract the cyprean arc is a part of the plate boundary between afro arabia and eurasia in the eastern mediterranean a re examination of the geophysical properties of the cyprean arc together with an analysis of multichannel seismic reflection profiles now available in the cyprean arc area provides a clearer view of the tectonic setting and processes in this region seismic activity and a gravity anomaly indicate that a northward subduction of oceanic material related to the african plate beneath the turkish plate is the mode of convergence along the western segment of the cyprean arc subduction is interrupted due to the collision of the eratosthenes seamount at the central segment of the cyprean arc which forms a zone of intense deformation the zone of deformation spreads away and disappears in the eastern segment of the cyprean arc no signs for deformation have been found in this portion either in the multichannel seismic reflection profiles in the seismicity or in the bathymetry the change in the mode of convergence and in the type of deformation along the cyprean arc is induced by crustal differences in the underthrusting plate interruption of subduction activity in one segment of the arc also affects the geometry of nearby segments and the processes over there

the epicontinental subsiding margin of the triassic in northern israel north arabian plate abstract the triassic sedimentary pattern of the north arabian margin represents a transition from continental to deep marine we here present a transect part of this suite from southern to northern israel cuttings from the ramalla s and devora n boreholes were studied by petrographic and cathodoluminescence microscopy biotic and sedimentological components were grouped into microfacies upon which a carbonate evaporitic depositional facies model was based mid to inner ramp conditions persisted along the transect essentially following a s n depositional strike with outer ramp to basinal facies to the west five low order lo cycles were identified and integrated into a sequence stratigraphic model with eustatic tectonic and differential subsidence components lo cycle 1 is late anisian pelsonian cycle 2 is late anisian to longobardian cycle 3 is early carnian cycle 4 is late carnian and cycle 5 is at the carnian norian transition facies range from supratidal via lagoonal facies in late hst or lst to calcarenitic shoals and short term deepening to offshore at maximum flooding cycles 1 and 2 are non evaporitic with a clastic influx event in cycle 2 cycles 3 and 4 contain sabkha or salina evaporites in the lagoonal facies that end in the lower part of cycle 5 these facies group into a higher order cyclicity with discrete events that can be correlated between the boreholes depositional and burial history were correlated to alpine and arabian plate stratigraphy over 20 myr from the anisian pelsonian to the norian siliciclastic carbonate and evaporite dominated environments indicate climates ranging from relatively humid to extremely arid rapid subsidence in the late anisian is attributed to neotethyan rifting of northeastern gondwana from latest anisian to early carnian reduced subsidence took place in the face of eustatic sea level rise renewed subsidence in the carnian is attributed to further neotethyan rifting subsidence terminated in the norian with uplift to the north attributed to pre volcanic doming

continental margin evolution of the northern arabian platform in syria copyright aapg 1993 reprinted by permission of the aapg whose permission is required for further use see also http atlas geo cornell edu syria best 1993 html

late tertiary subsidence history of the southern levant margin eastern mediterranean sea and its implications to the understanding of the messinian event the late tertiary subsidence history of the southern levant continental margin situated in the southeastern mediterranean sea was quantitatively analyzed paleodepth reconstruction across the margin off ashdod suggests the existence of a deep basin in pre messinian time which resembles the present one this implies that the deposition of the evaporites in the study area during the messinian desiccation of the mediterranean sea occurred in a deep basin the path of the tectonic subsidence of the basement since early tertiary is generally smooth as expected from the nature of the thermal subsidence the unconformity beneath the messinian indicates erosion of 50 200 m at the coastal plain in the pliocene the tectonic subsidence in the coastal plain and shelf area diverts from the expected thermal path and increases from 250 m to 450 m respectively in the quaternary the rate of tectonic subsidence nearly resumed the predicted thermal subsidence sedimentation and subsidence rates decrease but are still higher than those of the pre messinian we suggest that the evolution of the southern levant margin is most probably influenced by three main causes 1 the messinian event in late miocene 2 the deposition of large volumes of nile derived sediments since the pliocene and 3 the flexural response of the lithosphere to the load from the nile delta and or from the uplift of the judea mountains the western shoulder of the dead sea transform we interpret the latter to be the cause of the anomalous subsidence of the southern levant margin during the pliocene

sinistral strike slip motion on the dead sea rift confirmation from new magnetic data new aeromagnetic data from jordan provide information about basement structures that were previously unknown large east west magnetic anomalies are truncated by the dead sea rift comparison of these data with aeromagnetic data from west of the rift strongly suggests that these anomalies have undergone slightly more than 100 km of left lateral offset this is the same amount of offset concluded from several studies of surface bedrock geology offset of magnetic anomalies provides confirmation of the total amount of offset but no sense of timing or the polyphase history of motion suggested by other studies

rejuvenation of the tethyan passive continental margin of northern sinai deformation style and age gebel yelleq area abstract detailed field mapping and structural analysis of the northeastern and southeastern parts of gebel yelleq the largest fold among the northern sinai folds indicate the presence of two ene oriented dextral wrench zones the northern meneidret el etheili wrench zone is represented by right stepped en echelon doubly plunging folds whereas throughgoing wrench faults characterize the southern minsherah wrench zone the steep southeastern flank of gebel yelleq asymmetric fold makes an acute angle with the wrench zones and is orthogonal to the nw se directed shortening direction indicated by mesostructures similar structural relations are evident in the other major folds of northern sinai gebels el maghara and halal a structural model is proposed for the deformation of northern sinai late cretaceous tertiary rejuvenation of the early mesozoic passive continental margin of the neotethys proceeded via right lateral wrenching in northern sinai and is related to the oblique convergence between africa arabia and eurasia during the closure of the neotethys as a result wrench zones developed above the early rift faults e g meneidret el etheili and minsherah wrench zones also nw se directed shortening related to and parallel to the convergence of africa arabia and eurasia deformed the blocks lying between the wrench zones through the development of ne sw oriented thrust faults at acute angles to the wrench zones these thrusts ruptured the precambrian basement and propagated upward through the overlying sedimentary cover as listric thrust faults forming large fault propagation folds in gebels yelleq el maghara and halal these thrusts underlie the steep southeastern flanks of these folds and are exposed in gebels el maghara and hamayir the depth to detachment of these thrusts progressively increases southward to a value underneath the gebel yelleq area close to the brittle ductile transition of the crust the deformation reached its zenith in the early late senonian and probably continued into the early miocene the northern sinai fold belt characterizes an unstable crustal block separated from a tectonically stable crustal block to the south in central and southern sinai by a belt of ene oriented closely spaced faults forming what is called the central sinai hinge belt

early jurassic rifting of the arabian passive continental margin of the neo tethys field evidence from the lurestan region of the zagros fold and thrust belt iran

age and structure of the levant basin eastern mediterranean abstract large parts of the mediterranean were formed during the mesotethys ocean opening and subsequently became land locked in the midst of the africa eurasia plate convergence since the neogene this convergence has concealed key sections of the original basins previous studies widely agree that the easternmost part of the mediterranean the levant basin opened during the permian to early jurassic pj and accordingly explain the architecture of the basin and its margins however since the pj model was suggested in the late 1990 s a flood of new evidence has arrived since the hydrocarbon exploration some of which do not fit in with the pj model and some remain unexplained the current research re examines the old and new evidence from the levant basin its margins the surrounding landmass the adjacent eratosthenes seamount and the eastern part of the herodotus basin the integration of geological and geophysical data suggests that the levant basin formed 100 myr later than previously thought i e during the cretaceous its opening was triggered by the levant nubia mantle plume that induced a sequence of wide spread ocean island basalt volcanism the resulting crustal updoming and stretching led to the breakup of the levant landmass since 141 ma and drifting of the eratosthenes seamount since 125 ma back arc extension shaped the levant basin as a hybrid crust comprising continental slivers intervened by oceanic patches the basin opened during the long normal cretaceous polarity chrons between 122 and 84 ma and therefore it does not show any magnetic lineation the opening of the levant basin occurred while the herodotus basin floor subducted eastward under the eratosthenes seamount the subduction hinge did a roll back and facilitated the seamount drifting the seamount absorbed intensive volcanism while chasing the subduction roll back and sliding between two subduction transform edge propagator step faults that bounded the stretching levant back arc basin the turonian maastrichtian compression stress regime or inversion halted the extension of the levant basin stagnated its hybrid fabric and prevented the development of a spreading center the evolutionary scenario suggested here is a game changer for future exploration in the levant and may serve as a global analog for the formation of marginal seas

evidence of clastic evaporites in the canyons of the levant basin israel implications for the messinian salinity crisis abstract the recognition of large clastic sulfate deposits in the miocene messinian onshore of the mediterranean basin appears to be in contrast with the hypothesis of a complete desiccation as a consequence of the salinity crisis below the sea floor the evaporite facies are virtually unknown but the detailed review of the cores from onshore israel cutting through the evaporite filling of the marginal canyons in the levant basin mavqi im formation reveal exclusively clastic sulfate facies the rocks are graded gypsrudite and gypsarenite associated with laminar and cross bedded gypsarenite gypsiltite and shale whereas no primary in situ evaporites are present the clastic facies association is interpreted to have been deposited by subaqueous gravity flows sourced from dismantled selenite rocks originally located eastward and updip of the canyons the absence of supratidal evaporites suggests that no pronounced sea level drop can be inferred during the salinity crisis because the presence of the evaporite layers at different elevations along the canyons cannot mark oscillations in sea level but instead is the result of subaqueous mass wasting phenomena these findings indicate that the other ancient canyons described around the mediterranean basin may not be necessarily related to a base level drop due to basinwide desiccation on the contrary the widespread presence of clastic evaporites suggests that a water body persisted even during the acme of the salinity crisis the clastic deposits onshore israel are the first direct evidence that the widespread lower evaporite unit lying below the floor of the mediterranean may actually consist of deep water resedimented evaporites and that one of the primary sources was originally located on the upper margin of the levant basin if this hypothesis is correct then the mediterranean basin may host the largest clastic sulfate deposit in the world

internal configuration of the levantine basin from seismic reflection data eastern mediterranean abstract in the easternmost mediterranean the levantine basin is filled by up to 10 km of mesozoic to recent sediments next to the alpine deformation front of the cyprean arc near the junction between africa and arabia away from the deformation front the basin has undergone little deformation for the past 100 ma as evidenced by deep seismic reflection profiles mostly subhorizontal reflections image the undisturbed sedimentation above a possibly paleozoic basement two marked reflections are identified within the sedimentary fill m and k they correspond to unconformities near the deformation front and their laterally equivalent concordant surfaces basinward in the deepest part of the basin there are more than 4 km of tertiary to recent sediments within which the m reflection is well defined above the 1 5 km thick messinian evaporites and beneath the 500 m thick plio quaternary sedimentary sequence pre tertiary sediments reach up to 6 km thick beneath the k reflection and above the top basement reflection they are little deformed and possibly correspond to late jurassic cretaceous age the limit with the cyprean arc deformation front is a sharp tectonic boundary south of the hecateaus rise where the whole sedimentary fill terminates against a subvertical fault zone that can be followed down to more than 14 km depth to the east this limit changes into a 30 km wide zone of strike slip deformation that includes flower structures progressively buried basinward by tertiary to recent syntectonic sediments possibly since paleocene times the basin corresponds to the almost undisturbed part of a larger basin whose northern side has been incorporated within the alpine deformation of the cyprean arc and limited to the east by the dead sea transform system

superpositional tectonic patterns along the continental margin of the southeastern mediterranean a review abstract resurgent tectonic phases superimposed their structural imprints on the continental margin of the southeastern mediterranean this margin underwent a complete cycle from a margin of a marine basin in the paleozoic to the margin of the incipient neo tethys ocean in the early jurassic through the margin of the mature ocean in the late jurassic cretaceous and paleogene it became the margin of a desiccated marine basin in the late miocene and finally became the margin of a rejuvenated marine basin after the pliocene the margin was affected by folding faulting and intermittent volcanism during the early liassic early neocomian late cretaceous oligocene and early miocene the younger tectonic phases were superimposed on the older ones reactivating them in some places and masking them in others the geological characteristics and this complex tectonic history are masked effectively by the thick messinian evaporitic sequence this smoothing effect was further enhanced by the huge pile of sediments that has been deposited by the river nile since the early pliocene

tectonics and magmatism associated with mesozoic passive continental margin development in the middle east early triassic cretaceous rifting and magmatism occurred along the western edge of the arabian peninsula from egypt in the south to syria in the north associated with the development of the neotethyan passive continental margin which is preserved in the present day eastern mediterranean a change in the direction and rate of extension during the early cretaceous had a profound effect upon the developing continental margin and controlled the pattern of rifting magmatism and sedimentation extensive late jurassic early cretaceous volcanism occurred throughout the region and is clearly rift related major and trace element including rare earth element and sr nd isotopic compositions suggest derivation of the most primitive mafic magmas from an enriched mantle source with minimal evidence of crustal contamination the magmas appear to have ascended rapidly to the surface through large scale faults isopach maps have been constructed for a series of time intervals during the mesozoic using well data from egypt israel iraq jordan lebanon and syria these reveal the distribution and orientation of the main depocentres the main tectonic feature from the late triassic until the late jurassic was a basin which extended northeastwards from northern israel to the palmyrides in central syria by the early cretaceous however deposition switched to a n s oriented basin in central and northern israel and lebanon the distribution of late jurassic early cretaceous magmatism coincides with this new basin and indicates the location of the major extensional fault zones

displaced terranes and crustal evolution of the levant and the eastern mediterranean geophysical data from the levant and the eastern mediterranean suggest that this area can be divided into distinct crustal units of different origins for example a marked difference in crustal structure and structural style exists in the levant between samaria and judea south of the carmel structure and the galilee and lebanon north of it on the other hand several microcontinental fragments such as cyprus and the eratosthenes and anaximander seamounts are embedded within the oceanic crust of the eastern mediterranean the present location of these units has resulted from complex tectonic processes which were active during the mid paleozoic mesozoic evolution of this area during this period several crustal units were accreted to the northern margin of africa while others were detached away from it the crustal evolution of the eastern mediterranean and the levant is intimately linked with the closure of the paleo tethys the formation of the neo tethys and its subsequent closure

constrains on the origin and history of the eastern mediterranean basin abstract the basin formed along the northern passive margin of gondwanaland as a relict of the mesozoic neotethys in early mesozoic time though direct information from the basin itself is meagre the geology of its passive margins and the regional framework of the tethys evolution constrain the formation and history of the basin the eastern mediterranean and its passive margins are interpreted to have formed as a result of several faulting and continental breakup phases from early permian to middle jurassic times before pangaea s complete disintegration this led to the detachment of the eratosthenes and tauride blocks from the margins of the levant and herodotus basins respectively the latter merged in the northeast with the cyprus basin that extended along arabia s northern margin the main rifting probably occurred in the triassic leading to seafloor spreading in the herodotus and cyprus basins while along the levant margin important rifting also occurred in the jurassic during the initial rifting stages extension perpendicular to the levant margin was important but subsequently the tauride block drifted mainly northward the existence of the passive margins and slopes of the eastern mediterranean is documented at least from the end of the middle jurassic until then the basin was probably narrow 200 300 km but during the main phase of the africa laurasia separation it grew to twice its present width or more this scenario depends critically on the interpretation that the tauride block was originally located next to northeastern africa on the western side of the eratosthenes block plate convergence and consumption of the northern portion of the basin have taken place since mid cretaceous times but the active convergent boundary on its northern side formed only in the neogene by modification of earlier structures some intra plate deformation also took place especially in the neogene but it hardly changed the original configuration of the remaining portion of the basin