pliocene pleistocene sedimentary development of the syntectonic polis graben nw cyprus evidence from facies analysis nannofossil biochronology and strontium isotope dating the recently uplifted and exposed pliocene and pleistocene sedimentary infill of the neotectonic polis graben provides an excellent opportunity to understand extensional basin development in a marine setting fieldwork facies analysis and dating using nannofossils and strontium isotopes reveal how the sedimentary conditions evolved during infill of the polis graben during pliocene and pleistocene time and allow a composite succession for the depocentre to be determined for the first time six lithofacies are recognized in the northern polis graben allowing evolving palaeoenvironments to be inferred by the end of miocene time messinian a major c n s trending graben was established extensional faulting continued during the pliocene pleistocene until recent time post messinian salinity crisis deposition began with deposition of hemipelagic muds c 5 08 2 76 ma equivalent to the nicosia formation this was followed by upwards incoming of repeated normal graded bioclastic carbonates couplets c 2 76 1 6 ma which are interpreted as age equivalents of the athalassa formation elsewhere in cyprus the upwards sudden facies change is explained by tectonically controlled shallowing which enabled neritic carbonate production on the basin margins the appearance of basement derived material e g ophiolitic extrusive detritus in the highest stratigraphic levels of the basin fill in the north c 1 7 1 6 ma reflects onset of rapid surface uplift focused on the troodos ophiolitic massif overall the syntectonic basin infill appears to document a two stage pulsed uplift related to early stage collision of the african and eurasian plates in the easternmost mediterranean region

the miocene pakhna formation southern cyprus and its relationship to the neogene tectonic evolution of the eastern mediterranean abstract the miocene pakhna formation is interpreted as relating to onset of the present northward subduction of the african plate beneath cyprus and is thus critical to understanding of the neogene evolution of the eastern mediterranean basin following a perios of deep water pelagic chalk deposition in the late eocene and oligocene upper lefkara fm the pakhna formation records heterogeneous mainly carbonate sedimentation the pakhna formation is bounded by the limassol forest block an uplifted ophiolitic terrain to the north and by the akrotiri high a ridge of exotic mesozoic lithologies to the south two sub basins maroni in the e and khalassa in the w within the pakhna formation were separated by the wnw ese trending yerasa lineament located near the s margin of the ophiolite in most areas the pakhna formation overlies the lefkara formation disconformably the succession begins with deep water pelagic carbonates and shows increased input of shallow water bioclastic and terrigenous sediment upward during the early to mid miocene the ophiolitic terrain to the n was uplifted deformed and eroded followed by marine transgression and patch reef development in the tortonian late miocene ophiolite derived clastics were mixed with shallow water bioclastic sediment reworked in a high energy coastal setting and transported downslope within channels into the basin accumulating as massive sands debris flows and calciturbidites in the maroni sub basin localised debris aprons prograded into a pelagic carbonate environment to the se further west in the khalassa sub basin little uplift occurred along the basin margins and redeposited sediment was mainly bioclastic contrasting sediment including chert was derived from the allochthonous mamonia complex exposed on the akrotiri high to the s and its possible offshore extension bioclastic sediment including reef talus was also derived from an intrabasinal high in the khalassa sub basin eventually normal marine deposition was ended by the messinian salinity crisis

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

mobilization and speciation of arsenic from hydrothermally altered rock containing calcite and pyrite under anoxic conditions abstract the effects of water residence time and anoxic conditions on the mobilization and speciation of as in a calcite and pyrite bearing altered rock excavated during a road tunnel project has been evaluated using batch and column laboratory experiments higher infiltration rates i e shorter water residence times enhanced the leaching of as due to the higher ph values of the effluents and more rapid transport of dissolved as through the columns the concentration of as in the effluent also increased under anoxic conditions regardless of the water residence time this enhanced leaching of as under anoxic conditions could be attributed to a significant ph increase and decreased fe oxyhydroxide oxide precipitation compared to similar experiments done under ambient conditions processes that controlled the evolution of ph and the temporal release mechanisms of as under anoxic conditions were identical to those previously observed under ambient conditions the dissolution of soluble phases pyrite oxidation co precipitation and or adsorption desorption reactions speciation of as in the column experiments could partly be attributed to the ph dependent adsorption of as species onto fe oxyhydroxide oxide precipitates moreover apparent equilibrium of the total as and as iii concentrations was delayed under anoxic conditions in both batch and column experiments

source processes and seismotectonic implications of the 1995 and 1996 cyprus eastern mediterranean region earthquakes abstract the teleseismic body waves of two earthquakes were inverted for their sources to obtain a rupture process for each the february 23 1995 ms 5 8 and october 9 1996 ms 6 8 events took place to the northwest and southwest of cyprus both the earthquakes generated complex body waveforms which were inverted using the method of kikuchi and kanamori 1991 the inversion results suggest that the 1995 and 1996 events were multiple events associated with subevents taking place on different faults located nearby the source regions three subevents were necessary to explain the waveforms of the 1995 earthquake the first subevent showed a predominantly normal faulting mechanism while the second subevent located 20 km to the north of the first subevent had a strike slip mechanism with dip slip component despite the difference in mechanisms both the subevents had slip vectors oriented nearly e w the last subevent was located in the proximity of the first subevent and had a normal faulting mechanism with a slip vector in n s direction the different depths and slip vector directions of the first and third subevents may suggest strain partitioning with depth in the source region of the 1995 event the complex waveforms of the 1996 earthquake were modeled with three subevents too combining the hypocentral distribution of the aftershocks with the inversion results revealed that the first subevent took place on a fault plane dipping about 20 to the east southeast the mechanism of the first subevent together with the azimuthal pulse width distribution suggest that the sense of motion on the fault plane was right lateral strike slip and unilateral rupture propagation we estimate from the major subevent a slip rate of 10 mm year for the african plate the second and third subevents were located 35 km to the southeast of the main shock and had a predominantly normal faulting mechanism with slip vectors in north northwest direction the rupture process analysis of the 1995 and 1996 events suggests that the region to the west of cyprus experiences extensional tectonics

neogene supra subduction zone extension in the polis graben system west cyprus the neotectonic polis graben and adjacent pegia half graben in west cyprus are extensional basins developed within the convergent tectonic regime of the eastern mediterranean both basins contain an early fill of miocene carbonates including reef limestones messinian extension oriented ene wsw produced the asymmetrically faulted polis graben structure evaporites were deposited in the south of the area while unconformity surfaces developed in the north pliocene mark and chalks were then deposited in a relatively quiescent phase in the north of the graben while faulting continued into the early pliocene in the south plio pleistocene to recent sediments record regional uplift of cyprus contemporaneous nne ssw oriented extension formed the pegia half graben and renewed minor faulting in the polis graben the extensional structures of the polis graben system are thought to result from extension above a subduction zone located south of cyprus driven by subduction 9roll back9 and trench migration accelerated convergence and rapid roll back during late miocene times caused the first stage of extension whilst the plio pleistocene faulting was driven by differential extension in the overriding plate as the eratosthenes seamount collided with the trench and locally impeded subduction the polis graben system may provide a model for the early stages of development of major suprasubduction zone extensional areas such as the aegean region

role of the palaeogene recent sinistral el kabir lineament and the associated transtensional neogene recent el kabir basin northern syria in distributed deformation between the african and eurasian plates

stability and meromixis in a water filled mine pit a field experiment examined stability and stratification in a disused mine fit filled with 1 75 x lo7 m3 of water vertical profiles of conductivity and temperature indicated that due to substantial chemical stratification spring and autumn overturn did not penetrate to the base of the pit although parameterization indicated that double diffusion should be expected we found only circumstantial evidence of associated step structure the available data suggest that groundwater inflow created a warm salty pool of water at the base of the water column giving the appearance of a meromictic structure with a monimolimnion however this pool was noi a consistent feature suggesting both a variable inflow and significant diffusion rates from the temperature data estimates indicated that hypolimnetic vertical eddy diffusivity varied between 1 x 10e7 and 5 x lo m s l the observations identify short term relatively energetic internal wave events that may have a significant impact on this value the present study is useful in two ways first it shows how pit lakes form a natural laboratory fcr a range of processes and second it illustrates how these processes relate to diffusion paranieterization it is clear that reliable parameterization is vital for long term modeling required for prediction of water quality over decadal timescales with the closure of an open cut mining operation come the dual problems of rehabilitation of the mine pit and containment of deleterious material generated by the mine during its life in many cases the pit fills with water either naturally or through mine activities thus an artificial lake of moderate volume is created davis and ashenberg 1989 characterization of the transport processes within the water column is important for two reasons first the pit is likely to contain hazardous levels of dissolved metals and second if vertical transport rates are low then the pit may prove suitable as a storage location for hazardous material water filled mine pit lakes pit lakes have received consideration in the literature but with a biological or geochemical emphasis e g klapper and schultz 1995 crater lakes are the natural system most similar to these artificial water bodies martin 1985 macintyre and melack 1985 pit lakes are unique for several reasons they are often deep relative to natural lakes of similar surface area they have high surrounding walls that often generate a microclimate different to that outside the pit they typically have very thin sediment layers they may undergo substantial and rapid changes in water level and they are likely to contain significant concentrations of dissolved material the final point is important if the dissolved material is environmentally harmful or if it leads to meromixis with these departures from what might be associated with typical natural lakes

sedimentology of the nw margin of the arabian plate and the sw ne trending nahr el kabir half graben in northern syria during the latest cretaceous and cenozoic abstract the late cretaceous maastrichtian to recent sedimentary record of nw syria documents the palaeoenvironments and regional tectonic setting during a time when the neotethys ocean to the north was closing culminating in regional collision by mid miocene time this detailed sedimentological study builds on a biostratigraphical framework established by russian workers during the mid maastrichtian the baer bassit ophiolite and related melange were emplaced southwards from neotethys onto the northern margin of the arabian african plate resulting in flexurally controlled deepening to the south after short lived emergence and erosion of emplaced units a renewed marine transgression ushered in shelf depth open marine carbonate deposition during the palaeocene early eocene this deposition was characterized by generally westward channelised mass flow from shallow marine carbonate banks to the east probably influenced by storm conditions flexurally controlled uplift and erosion took place during late eocene oligocene related to final closure of neotethys shelf depth carbonate deposition resumed during the aquitanian early miocene influenced by tectonic subsidence during the burdigalian a sw ne trending narrow up to 15 km wide linear 60 km long basin developed in the vicinity of the present day nahr el kabir river valley this basin is attributed to extension or transtension along the nahr el kabir fault this important lineament runs onshore from the southern limit of the cyprus arc tartous ridge through nw syria it is then offset by the dead sea transform in the ghab valley before merging with the south anatolian transform fault in turkey further northeast the basin in nw syria developed into the asymmetrical nahr el kabir half graben during the mid miocene with uplift of the northern margin and rapid fault controlled subsidence of the basin axis large volumes of terrigenous clastic and shallow marine bioclastic material were redeposited from the flanks into the axis of the basin mainly as gravity flows shelf depth carbonate deposition characterized both basin flanks especially the southern margin regression culminated in gypsum and marl precipitation in tectonically active local depocentres during the messinian salinity crisis pliocene re flooding established argillaceous shelf deposition within and around the pre existing basin coupled with local alkaline basalt volcanism and faulting in the southern coastal area regional regression gave rise to prominently channelised bioclastic sedimentation by the late pliocene the quaternary was marked by regional uplift and terracing influenced by glacio eustatic sea level change climatic change and further movement along the nahr el kabir fault the dominant control on basin development was thus local tectonics related to movements along the el kabir lineament and its interaction with regional scale tectonic events while eustasy played a subsidiary modifying role

late pleistocene and holocene uplift history of cyprus implications for active tectonics along the southern margin of the anatolian microplate the nature of the southern margin of the anatolian microplate during the neogene is complex controversial and fundamental in understanding active plate margin tectonics and natural hazards in the eastern mediterranean region our investigation provides new insights into the late pleistocene uplift history of cyprus and the troodos ophiolite we provide isotopic 14 c and radiogenic luminescence dates of outcropping marine sediments in eastern cyprus that identify periods of deposition during marine isotope stages mis 3 4 5 and 6 past sea levels indicated by these deposits are c 95 25 m higher in elevation than estimates of worldwide eustatic sea level an uplift rate of c 1 8 mm year and possibly as much as c 4 1 mm year in the past c 26 40 ka is indicated holocene marine deposits also occur at elevations higher than those expected for past sl and suggest uplift rates of c 1 2 2 1 mm year mis 3 marine deposits that crop out in southern and western cyprus indicate uniform island wide uplift we propose a model of tectonic wedging at a plate bounding restraining bend as a mechanism for late pleistocene to holocene uplift of cyprus uplift is accommodated by deformation and seismicity along the margins of the troodos ophiolite and re activation of its low angle basal shear zone

luminescence dating of anthropogenically reset canal sediments from angkor borei mekong delta cambodia this paper presents a case study in the analysis of anthropogenically reset sedimentary materials through work undertaken to identify and date sediments in an ancient canal in the mekong delta cambodia the emergence of rice cultivating communities utilising canals for both hydraulic management and transport represents an important stage in the social evolution of southeast asia the emergence of complex polities in the region which may have depended on both international trade and intensified agriculture led ultimately to the formation of the famous khmer empires which dominated the region on several occasions through the 1st and 2nd millennia ad french colonial scholars identified possibly ancient canals in the region that may have played roles in trade agriculture or both this series of ancient canal features near angkor borei has been the subject of recent investigations in a collaboration between the universities of glasgow and hawaii luminescence profiling measurements were used to identify the canal bed by exploiting the contrast between a regional substrate of some 50 ka depositional age and more recent archaeological sediments in this manner it has been possible to identify the sedimentary substrate undisturbed canal sediments and redeposited material ages have been estimated for substrate and canal infill sediments the work represents the first convincing demonstration of luminescence dating of one of these important regional features and indeed the first confirmation of the presumed antiquity of the canal system around angkor borei

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

the pissouri basin fan delta complex southwestern cyprus abstract the pliocene pleistocene sedimentary fill of a small 70 km 2 sub basin in southwestern cyprus is interpreted as representing a fan delta complex with braid channels which shows a broadly progradational sequence influenced by both sea level fluctuation and tectonic activity basin differentiation began in middle late miocene with the tectonic break up of uniform carbonate deposition along southern cyprus during the latest miocene messinian salinity crisis the pissouri basin was a shallow silled depression in which thick gypsum deposits accumulated renewed basin margin faulting led to the local development of slope fan deltas followed by extensive deeper marine micrites and marlstones upwards these are intercalated with terrigenous siltstone sandstone turbidites that represent the bottomsets and foresets of a large fan delta continued uplift and erosion of troodos resulted in the southward progradation of stacked micro gilbert type deltas with interbedded terra rossa palaeosols that form the fan delta topset unit a distinctive bioclastic calcarenite sandstone body appears to represent a local channelised unit within the fan delta complex

the aqueous geochemistry of the berkeley pit butte montana u s a water levels in the berkeley pit butte montana are currently rising approximately 22m per year following the cessation of pumping in 1982 projections suggest that the pit may be filled to capacity at the 5520 ft 1682 m elevation by the year 2009 if remedial action is not implemented in addition as the water level in the pit continues to rise there is the potential for encroachment of contaminated water into the alluvial aquifer and subsequent transport of metals downgradient to silver bow creek geochemical measurements and aqueous samples collected during october 1987 indicate that water in the berkeley pit is moderately oxidizing eh 460mv below 30 m acidic ph 3 0 cafe sulfate solution the principal ions are al as ca cd cu fe k mg na so4 and zn which typically increase in concentration from the surface to the bottom of the pit arsenic occurs mainly as as v in total metal concentrations up to 1 mg l fe as fe iii in the top 3 m and as fe ii below this depth in concentrations up to 1000 mg l sulfate was measured in concentrations up to 6780 mg l from the deepest 130 m sample copper and zn were found in total metal concentrations of 202 and 512 mg l respectively at the 130 m sampling depth to verify the field eh measurements minteq was used to calculate a theoretical eh based on the fe ii fe iii couples the results suggest that the ratio fe ii fe iii is representative of the system eh when both species occur in measurable quantities 0 25mg l and when the minor species constitutes at least 5 of the total concentration data from this study were used in the geochemical computer code phreeqe to evaluate potential remediation of the water body through the addition of alkaline tailings fluid produced at the current milling operation on site five cases were evaluated two representative of conditions under ice cover pco2 not fixed and three open system simulations pco2 10 3 5 mineral controls included fe oh 3 gypsum caso4 2h2o jurbanite alohso4 and jarosite kfe3 so4 2 oh 6 the addition of three volumes of alkaline slurry to the existing volume of acidic fluid would raise the ph to 5 0 this option would take approximately 7 a at the current rate of production 11 6 million gallons per day 43 9 ml d at this time the fluid level would be approximately 20 m above the alluvial bedrock contact

the 1996 cyprus earthquake a large deep event in the cyprean arc summary we examine the source mechanisms and depths of the largest earthquake that has occurred in the vicinity of cyprus in the last 50 years the 1996 october 9 earthquake mw 6 8 and its principal aftershock on october 10 mw 5 8 being the first large event in the area for which seismic data from the global digital network are available it provides an excellent opportunity to study the complex tectonic processes of the eastern mediterranean we modelled the source mechanisms and depths of the earthquakes by a least squares body waveform fitting procedure the waveform fits resulting from our minimum misfit solutions are considerably better than those predicted by previous studies we show strong evidence that both events were at depths of 76 85 km rather than 20 30 km as has been suggested by other studies these earthquakes form a group indicating that the mediterranean lithosphere south of the hellenic and cyprean arcs is in east west compression as it is subducted to the north and northeast we additionally examine the source mechanism and depth of the 1999 august 11 earthquake mw 5 6 which occurred at about 11 km with a reverse dip slip mechanism it probably reflects crustal shortening between the african and turkish plates

the florence rise the western bend of the cyprus arc the florence rise is a submarine feature extending from the island of cyprus in the southeast to the anaximander mountains which form the northwestern end of the cyprus arc south of western turkey the eastern florence rise includes a topographic high near cyprus while its central domain displays relatively low relief most of the major elements of relief appear to be bounded by faults in the light of new geophysical data an underlying core ridge likely made of pre pliocene nappes emplaced from the north separates relatively undeformed sediments to the northeast from actively shearing sediments and seismic basement to the southwest a dextral arc parallel wrench zone at least 15 km wide has created a lineated seafloor texture and accompanying flower structures within the central florence rise apparent riedel type conjugate shears within this system cut across the florence rise and mark changes in the relief along the arc several mud volcanoes are observed within the wrench zone and along associated faults indicating that overpressuring at depth is relieved by these faults there is no evidence for any typical subduction along this arcuate trend which is considered to act as the present boundary between the african and anatolian aegean plates in contrast both the nature of faulting and the morphology of the florence rise seem to indicate some degree of transpressional coupling between the two plates even though they appear disconnected by a tectonic boundary in the form of a major shear zone

the acidic mine pit lakes of the iberian pyrite belt an approach to their physical limnology and hydrogeochemistry abstract this study examines some relevant limnological and hydrogeochemical characteristics of 22 mine pit lakes of the iberian pyrite belt ipb the studied pit lakes include some of the largest and historically most important mines of the ipb including corta atalaya and cerro colorado in riotinto filon norte filon centro and filon sur in tharsis aznalcollar or san telmo and many other of minor size as a whole these lakes constitute at present a large volume of highly acidic and metal polluted water some of these pit lakes are very recent e g corta atalaya 2 5 a los frailes 6 a and present a continuous hydrological and geochemical evolution although many others were abandoned decades ago and show nearly constant water volume depth profiles obtained in several pit lakes e g san telmo confesionarios cueva de la mora concepcion indicate that many of them have developed meromixis and show at present a permanent thermal and chemical stratification with a well defined chemocline separating an anoxic fe ii rich monimolimnion and a well mixed oxygenated and fe iii rich mixolimnion in the upper layer the bacterial oxidation of fe ii competes with photoreductive processes which take place in the surface water thus provoking diel cycles of fe ii concentration the observed water chemistry reflects the oxidation and dissolution of pyrite and other sulphides and gangue aluminosilicates from the country rock the pit lakes of the ipb cover a wide range of water compositions from circumneutral and relatively low metal e g los frailes ph 7 2 0 07 mg l fe 3 8 mg l mn 30 mg l zn to extremely acidic and metal loid rich e g corta atalaya ph 1 2 36 7 g l fe 6 7 g l zn 1 3 g l cu 159 mg l as most pit lakes however are comprised within the ph range of 2 2 3 6 and appear to be strongly buffered by the hydrolysis and precipitation of fe iii in the form of schwertmannite which forms colloids that can sorb trace elements from the aqueous phase

the onset of the messinian salinity crisis in the eastern mediterranean pissouri basin cyprus the pissouri basin in cyprus contains one of the most suitable sedimentary successions with which to study the onset of the messinian salinity crisis in the eastern mediterranean exposures along the new paphos limassol motorway near pissouri exhibit distinct cyclic bedding which permits the construction of a chronology based on orbital tuning biostratigraphic results reveal 10 planktonic foraminifera events that have been astronomically dated in other mediterranean sections and as such provide an excellent first order age control magnetostratigraphic results are in good agreement with the biostratigraphic data and show that all magnetic chrons between c4n 1n and c3an 1n are present the pattern of sedimentary cycles generally fits well with the insolation curve astronomical tuning of the succession shows that the first gypsum bed at pissouri overlies a 40 60 kyr stromatolite bearing transitional interval and correlates with the amplitude increase in insolation at 5 96 ma as in the western mediterranean this indicates that the onset of evaporite precipitation was synchronous right across the entire mediterranean basin fl 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

palaeomagnetic evidence for clockwise rotations related to dextral shear along the southern troodos transform fault cyprus abstract the southern troodos arakapas fault represents a late cretaceous oceanic fracture zone which was locally disrupted during late cretaceous eocene palaeorotation of the troodos microplate opinions are divided as to the sense of displacement along the transform fault and the exact timing of initiation of palaeorotation palaeomagnetic studies of turonian zeolite facies lavas and sediments exposed within the transform domain have revealed considerable variations in the declination of remanent magnetisation between sites along the arakapas fault belt the western margin of the limassol forest complex and the eastern flank of the troodos ophiolite at seven sites clockwise rotation of fault blocks has occurred about steeply inclined axes one fault block at the western end of the arakapas fault belt has experienced a net anticlockwise rotation while at six other sites only simple tilting about sub horizontal axes is indicated the overall clockwise sense of block rotation and initial dyke strikes calculated at three sites are consistent with right lateral slip along the transform cross cutting relationships revealed by the analysis of one site demonstrate that these rotations took place during crustal genesis and are not a product of post spreading disruption of the fracture zone sites located further south in the eastern limassol forest complex show no relative rotation with respect to the main troodos ophiolite to the north and have experienced only simple tilting however if our results are considered in conjunction with existing palaeomagnetic data from the area it appears that the entire area lay within a complicated zone of localised and predominantly clockwise block rotations produced by dextral slip along the transform some areas were rotated by over 100 about steeply inclined axes whereas others experienced only simple tilting the whole area was later subjected to a bulk 90 anticlockwise rotation along with the troodos microplate data obtained from the umbers and radiolarites perapedhi fm exposed on the eastern flank of the limassol forest block indicate that at least 30 and possibly up to 45 of this 90 rotation took place over a maximum of 15 ma

the kinematics of central southern turkey and northwest syria revisited central southern turkey nw syria and adjacent offshore areas in the ne mediterranean region form the boundary zone between the turkish african and arabian plates a great deal of new information has emerged in recent years regarding senses and rates of active crustal deformation in this region but this material has not hitherto been well integrated so the interpretations of key localities by different teams remain contradictory we have reviewed and synthesised this evidence combining it with new investigations targeted at key areas of uncertainty this work has led to the inference of previously unrecognised active faults and has clarified the roles of other structures within the framework of plate motions provided by gps studies roughly one third of the relative motion between the turkish and arabian plates is accommodated on the misis kyrenia fault zone which links to the study region from the kyrenia mountain range of northern cyprus much of this motion passes nne then eastward around the northern limit of the amanos mountains as previously thought but some of it splays northeastward to link into newly recognised normal faulting within the amanos mountains the remaining two thirds of the relative motion is accommodated along the karasu valley some of this component steps leftward across the amik basin before passing southward onto the northern dead sea fault zone dsfz but much of it continues southwestward past the city of antakya then into offshore structures ultimately linking to the subduction zone bounding the turkish and african plates to the southwest of cyprus however some of this offshore motion continues southward west of the syrian coast before linking onshore into the southern dsfz this component of the relative motion is indeed the main reason why the slip rate on the northern dsfz measured geodetically is so much lower than that on its southern counterpart in some parts of this region notably in the karasu valley it is now clear how the expected relative plate motion has been accommodated on active faults during much of the quaternary rather than constant slip rates on individual faults quite complex changes in the partitioning of this motion on timescales of hundreds of thousands of years are indicated however in other parts of the region it remains unclear whether additional major active faults remain unrecognised or whether significant relative motions are accommodated by distributed deformation or on the many smaller scale structures present

eratosthenes seamount collisional processes in the easternmost mediterranean in relation to the plio quaternary uplift of southern cyprus important new light is shed on subduction and incipient collisional processes in the easternmost mediterranean notably the plio quaternary uplift of the troodos ophiolite from new geophysical information collected during a cruise of the r v gelendzhik in july 1993 as part of the training through research programme the data collected over the eratosthenes seamount formed part of the site survey work for leg 160 of the ocean drilling program scheduled for spring 1995 the main results are that the eratosthenes seamount is in the process of actively subsiding breaking up and being thrust beneath both cyprus to the north and the levantine basin to the south northwards thrusting appears to post date the messinian when evaporites accumulated around the lower flanks of a pre existing seamount feature comparison with the geology of southern cyprus and offshore areas suggests a causative link between northward underthrusting of the eratosthenes seamount and late pliocene mid quaternary uplift of southern cyprus focused on the centre of the troodos ophiolite

the recognition of reactivation during continental deformation reactivation involves the accommodation of geologically separable displacement events intervals 1 ma along pre existing structures the definition of a significant period of quiescence is central to this phenomenological definition and the duration of the interval chosen represents the resolution limit of reactivation criteria found in most ancient settings in neotectonic environments reactivation can be further defined as the accommodation of displacements along structures that formed prior to the onset of the current tectonic regime this mechanistic definition cannot always be applied to ancient settings due to the uncertainties in constraining relative plate motion vectors four sets of criteria may be used to recognize reactivation in the geological record stratigraphic structural geochronological and neotectonic some structural criteria may not be reliable if used in isolation to identify reactivated structures much of the previously published evidence cited to invoke structural inheritance is equivocal as it uses similarities in trend dip or three dimensional shape of structures numerous fault and shear zone processes can cause significant weakening both synchronously with deformation and in the long term and may be invoked to explain reactivation the collage of fault bounded blocks forming most continents therefore carries a long term architecture of inheritance which can explain much of the observed complexity of continental deformation zones

tectonic significance of the eratosthenes seamount a continental fragment in the process of collision with a subduction zone in the eastern mediterranean ocean drilling program leg 160 abstract one of the objectives of odp leg 160 in the eastern mediterranean sea april may 1995 was concerned with the study of processes of genesis and incipient collision of an inferred crustal fragment the eratosthenes seamount with the active margin of the eurasian plate to the north represented by southern cyprus the upper part of the eratosthenes seamount i e upper several hundred metres was found to include both shallow and deep water carbonates dating back to early cretaceous time shallow water platform carbonate deposition similar to that of the onshore levant continental margin to the east i e part of the north african plate was followed by submergence to bathyal depths 1000 m in the late cretaceous to middle eocene punctuated by depositional and tectonic hiatuses tectonic uplift approximately 1 km was followed by shallow water carbonate deposition in the early miocene the platform was exposed during the messinian desiccation crisis during the early pliocene the platform subsided to bathyal depths associated with localised accumulation of limestone debris flows subsidence accelerated in the late pliocene early pleistocene reaching a present day maximum depth of ca 2500 m deformation of the eratosthenes seamount i e subsidence and high angle faulting resulted from crustal flexure induced by southward overthrusting of the cyprus active margin tectonic subsidence of the eratosthenes seamount was approximately synchronous with rapid surface uplift of the over riding plate the troodos ophiolite of southern cyprus this uplift is explained in terms of incipient collision of an eratosthenes continental fragment with a subduction trench coupled with the effects of diapiric protrusion of serpentinite located within the core of the troodos ophiolite the eratosthenes drilling thus documented a modern analogue of subduction collisional processes leading to accretion of continental fragments and carbonate platforms in orogenic belts

mobilization and speciation of arsenic from hydrothermally altered rock in laboratory column experiments under ambient conditions abstract this paper describes the mobilization and speciation of as found in hydrothermally altered rock under oxic column conditions the altered rock sample was obtained from a tunnel project located in the nakakoshi area of hokkaido japan whose geology is represented by slate shale and sandstone this area has undergone silicification pyritization and argillic alteration resulting in as enrichment of the rock results of the column experiments show that the infiltration rate bulk density and rock bed thickness affected the duration of water residence which in turn influenced the ph of the rock water system coexisting ions most notably ca2 at amounts greater than ca 50 mg l retarded the mobilization of as mobilization of as from the rock with time occurred in two stages stage 1 weeks 1 20 with higher as leaching and stage 2 weeks 20 76 characterized by nearly constant as release in addition pore water as concentrations revealed that the columns developed into two regions the top half where most of the leaching occurred and the bottom part dominated by adsorption thus the mechanism controlling the mobilization of as from the rock is a combination of one or more of the following processes dissolution of soluble as bearing fractions pyrite oxidation and adsorption reactions arsenite as iii was the dominant species in the effluent at the start of the experiment in columns with shorter water residence time and lower ph conditions

patterns of reef sedimentation and diagenesis in the miocene of cyprus abstract an early tertiary regressive sedimentary succession developed along an active plate margin in cyprus a varied clastic and carbonate succession of the miocene pakhna formation and then messinian evaporites culminate the regression within the pakhna formation two phases of reef growth were developed the aquitanian burdigalian terra member and the tortonian koronia member the terra member is exposed only in west and southeast cyprus mainly between pelagic carbonates the koronia member is exposed around the margins of the troodos massif in north south and west cyprus and on the akamas peninsula in northwest cyprus there was little tectonic influence on the growth pattern of the terra member reefs the koronia member reefs however are developed on up faulted blocks most of the koronia member fore reef facies and associated clastic input was shed into downfaulted basinal depocentres there are differences between the first and second miocene reef phases in cyprus in primary reef construction and in the level of background carbonate pelagic sedimentation the terra member reefs are dominantly framestones comprising faviids and domal poritids with several types of secondary reef dwelling corals there is no indication of a connection with the indo pacific coral faunal province benthonic foraminifera and fragments of crustose coralline algae are abundant in the off reef by contrast the koronia member is a bindstone comprising virtually monospecific laminar poritid corals but with coralline algae also playing a role in encrustation the koronia member off reef facies comprises decimetre thick beds of bioclastic reef detritus in north cyprus however beds of similar detritus centimetres in thickness are overlain by progressively thicker up to several metres debris flow sheets the terra member reefs have limited acicular fringe cement probably aragonitic this is overlain by an abundant marine bladed formerly high mg calcite cement later cements present in the reef facies include micritised calcite spars perhaps indicating microboring in cements during their precipitation neomorphism was extensive converting most cements to low mg calcite stable isotopic data for all the cyprus calcites exhibit depletion in the heavier isotopes 18 o and 13 c indicative of meteoric alteration the koronia member limestones show abundant indication of early lithification with fringing acicular aragonite and micrite cements stable isotopic data of the botryoidal aragonite cements indicate a marine origin the dolomite is thought to result from marine freshwater mixing and to be of pliocene age on the basis of stratigraphical solution replacement fabric and stable isotopic data sr isotopic data do not contradict a pliocene age dolomite characteristically replaces the pliocene fissure fill contents in southeast cyprus and off reef horizons in the terra member of west cyprus and koronia member of north cyprus the growth and burial history of miocene reefs contribute to the understanding of the tectonic history and palaeogeographical evolution of cyprus

post eocene coupled oroclines in the talesh nw iran paleomagnetic constraints abstract the talesh mountains nw iran witnessed a long deformation history from the triassic cimmerian orogeny to the ongoing arabia eurasia collision this protracted multi stage deformation has generated a remarkably curved orogen with a puzzling kinematic and deformational history in this study we investigate the origin of the talesh curvature through paleomagnetic analyses on rocks of paleozoic mesozoic and cenozoic age our results indicate that at least two major large scale vertical axis rotations took place since the late cretaceous 1 a pre eocene 73 17 clockwise rotation and 2 post eocene differential rotations that formed the z shaped mountain belt within a crustal scale shear zone the latter involved an increasing amount of clockwise cw rotation from south 16 to north 48 the orocline formation likely started during the oligocene where an approximately east west oriented mountain belt was buckled by the arabia eurasia collision with arabia acting as a rigid indenter and the south caspian basin as a rigid backstop we hypothesise that the ne sw oriented aras and lahijan fault zones inherited from transform faults related to the mesozoic opening of the caspian black sea back arc accommodated the coupled orocline formation

neotethyan intraoceanic microplate rotation and variations in spreading axis orientation palaeomagnetic evidence from the hatay ophiolite southern turkey abstract insights into tectonic processes operating in ancient ocean basins are provided by analyses of fragments of oceanic lithosphere preserved as ophiolites during collisional orogenesis here we present a palaeomagnetic analysis of the upper cretaceous hatay kizil dag ophiolite of turkey that provides evidence for intraoceanic microplate rotation and variations in ridge axis orientation in a neotethyan ocean basin magnetizations at 46 sites are shown to be pre deformational in origin and rotated from the relevant reference direction a net tectonic rotation approach to the analysis of the data provides information on permissible net rotation poles and angles and allows uncertainties in input vectors to be considered results demonstrate that all levels of the ophiolite have been rotated anticlockwise by angles in excess of 90 around steeply inclined axes the hatay ophiolite formed in the same supra subduction zone spreading system as the troodos ophiolite cyprus which is known to have rotated 90 anticlockwise in an intraoceanic setting in the late cretaceous to early eocene by considering our results in the context of the known timing of the troodos rotation we infer that 50 60 of rotation of the hatay ophiolite took place as part of an areally extensive troodos microplate this phase of rotation was triggered by initial impingement of the arabian continental margin with the neotethyan subduction trench consistent with models for modern day oceanic microplate rotation in complex convergent plate boundaries the hatay ophiolite then became detached from the actively rotating microplate and was emplaced onto the arabian margin in the maastrichtian undergoing a further 30 40 of anticlockwise rotation during thrusting back stripping of rotations allows correction of the hatay sheeted dykes to their initial orientations the restored dyke trend of 020 differs from that inferred previously for the troodos sheeted dyke complex demonstrating a primary variation in orientation of neotethyan spreading axes such variability is commonly observed in modern spreading systems in marginal basins these may act as analogues for the supra subduction zone spreading inferred for many ophiolites

calcareous nannofossils in extreme environments the messinian salinity crisis polemi basin cyprus the rapidly changing and extreme environmental conditions of the early messinian salinity crisis are reflected in abrupt variations in nannofossil assemblages within the messinian units kalavasos formation from the polemi basin during the messinian sedimentary and microfossil data indicate that the polemi basin was a semi enclosed shallow water basin subject to repeated influxes of marine and freshwater this is supported by the absence of many open marine nannoplankton e g discoaster and by the presence of neritic littoral and freshwater diatoms whilst calcareous nannoplankton are known to occupy near shore habitats they are rarely preserved in such environments due to terrigenous and clastic influx the shallow and eutrophic environments of the messinian polemi basin therefore provide an unusual opportunity to investigate which extinct nannofossil taxa occupied marginal marine environments nannoplankton diversity 3 to 11 species is low in comparison to the open ocean and the assemblages are extremely uneven with high dominance one of five species reticulofenestra minuta reticulofenestra antarctica helicosphaera carteri umbilicosphaera jafari and sphenolithus abies was observed to dominate in all of the assemblages these were broadly distributed marine species but capable of opportunistic behaviour salinity and nutrient levels are thought to be the primary factors controlling the overall nature of the nannoplankton assemblages using the associated diatom and sedimentological evidence we infer the palaeoecology of key nannofossil taxa and speculate on the palaeoenvironments of the messinian polemi basin r antarctica is thought to have dominated in normal salinity mesotrophic shallow water environments h carteri in shallow brackish eutrophic environments u jafari in hypersaline conditions r minuta in eutrophic conditions with an abnormal salinity from brackish to hypersaline and s abies in mesotrophic deeper and normal salinity environments d 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

magnetic fabrics may proxy as neotectonic stress trajectories polis rift cyprus 1 the miocene polis rift opened along a nnw axis obviously in response to wsw relative extension and relative tension starting 5 myr ago however geologically young plate movements are believed to be closing the rift by sinistral transpression producing minor younger faults since 1 ma modern earthquake solutions give e w compression compatible with the younger faults magnetic fabrics using anisotropy of low field magnetic susceptibility ams and anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization are kinematically compatible with stress axes required by the fault and rift geometry and thus were acquired in 5 ma however by different statistical treatments and selecting samples from different subareas it is possible to reveal sedimentary depositional fabrics and perhaps also a composite ams fabric related to young transpression 1 ma

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

depositional processes and basin analysis of messinian evaporites in cyprus messinian evaporites in cyprus resulted from the interplay of mediterranean wide and eustatic sea level changes and local tectonics in an inferred above subduction zone setting distinctive tortonian early messinian pre evaporitic facies include diatomaceous marls and microbial carbonates overlain by a variety of gypsum facies and then by lagoonal lacustrine deposits and local palaeosols facies analysis and comparisons allow construction of a simple model in which evaporites formed in semi isolated small basins not far below global eustatic sea level coarsely crystalline gypsum formedin situ along the margins of small basins and within shallow water lagoons 10 m deep this comprised common banded stacked i e layered selenite swallowtail selenite botryoidal selenite and sugary bedded selenite fine grained gypsum precipitated widely and was reworked into basinal areas 70 m deep by weak traction currents and low density turbidity currents shallow water derived selenite was also reworked basinwards by high density turbidity currents and debris flows slumps indicate tectonic instability more detailed basin analysis can be achieved by study of individual sub basins in the polemi sub basin in the west a lower unit up to 60 m thick comprises basinal gypsum interbedded with gypsum turbidites and mass flow deposits with slumps this is overlain by an extensive mega rudite up to 20 m thick including up to metre sized clasts of marginal gypsum facies above the upper unit up to 70 m thick includes shallow water gypsum e g swallowtails marl and minor microbial carbonates the pissouri sub basin in the south west exposes marginal facies of the upper unit including deltaic elastics and palaeosols the maroni sub basin in the south exhibits a basinal lower gypsum unit with laterally equivalent marginal facies up to 50 m thick overlain by an extensive mega rudite up to 20 m thick finally the mesaoria subbasin in the north exposes relatively marginal gypsum facies in an unstable tectonic setting formation of the polemi pissouri and mesaoria gypsum sub basins relates to coeval extensional faulting and graben development evaporites in south cyprus maroni sub basin formed in elongate basins between former compressional lineaments created by localized early miocene thrusting in the sub basins of west south west and south cyprus large scale slumping of marginal gypsum facies took place towards depocentres to form megarudite debris flows triggered by one or several phases of extensional faulting

palaeorotation of the troodos microplate cyprus the troodos ophiolite represents one of the best preserved fragments of ocean floor crust that is exposed on land as the extrusive series of the ophiolite retains a stable magnetization that is directed westward the ocean crust is considered to have rotated anticlockwise through 90 since its formation in the late cretaceous1 to determine the timing of the rotation event over 3 000 orientated samples have been collected from the ophiolite and from its in situ turonian to recent sedimentary cover here we report that pelagic chalks immediately overlying the highest extrusive lava units of the ophiolite complex give reliable magnetic vector directions indicating that at least 60 of rotation occurred before the lower eocene and that rotation was completed by the end of the lower eocene rotation cannot have occurred within a single late miocene event as reported previously2 regional geological considerations support the rotation of only a small fragment of oceanic crust that was stranded adjacent to an active continental margin in this tectonic setting the oblique consumption of oceanic crust beneath troodos crust could provide the necessary driving force for tectonic rotation

seismotectonics of the cyprian arc summary the cyprian arc forms the plate boundary between the anatolian plate in the north and the nubian and sinai plates in the south we examine the tectonic setting and seismic activity along the arc in light of new geodetic studies indicating relative ne sw plate motions across the arc the first order tectonic variations are determined by the arc s geometry the eastern arc oriented subparallel to relative motion is dominated by transcurrent tectonism the western arc is oriented almost normal to relative plate motion and is subjected to convergent processes variations in the level and depth of seismic activity along the western arc suggest that the northwestern section of the arc represents a subduction boundary whereas the southeastern section represents a collision boundary the two tectonic domains of the western arc are separated by a ne sw trending tear fault which produces large earthquakes such as the mw 6 8 1996 paphos earthquake we compare the geometrically similar cyprian and hellenic arcs and find significant differences in the rate direction and type of convergence across the two arcs the hellenic arc is subjected mainly to subduction whereas the shorter cyprian arc is subjected to subduction collision and transcurrent tectonic processes

neotectonic intersection of the aegean and cyprus tectonic arcs extensional and strike slip faulting in the isparta angle sw turkey abstract the isparta angle and adjacent antalya bay areas constitute an important segment of the eastern mediterranean region located at the intersection of the southward convex aegean and cyprus arcs some recent tectonic maps show the isparta angle as a nw se compressional lineament extending eastwards into the kyrenia range of northern cyprus however fault data from the onshore isparta angle together with offshore shallow seismic reflection data show that the present morpho tectonic setting is dominated by extension the last phase of compression to affect the area studied in the late miocene was accompanied by regional nappe emplacement lycian nappes onshore fault planes measured from fault zones bounding both the limbs and the core of the isparta angle are oriented predominantly ne sw nw se and n s superimposed slickenfibres show that reverse faults were succeeded in turn by right lateral faults then by normal faults the fault phases are dated by stratigraphical and geomorphological evidence reverse faults date from the late miocene or earlier compressional deformation whereas the right lateral faults mainly developed during latest miocene early pliocene normal faulting dominated from the late pliocene recent an interpretation of shallow seismic reflection data shows that antalya bay is characterised by a nw se trending asymmetrical graben system that has continued to be active during the late miocene early pliocene right lateral strike slip resulted from shear along the eastern termination of a zone of extension and rotation that characterises the western aegean this shear was focused in a n s direction by inherited zones of structural weakness in the basement antalya complex the switch to ne sw extension in the late pliocene quaternary relates to a regional change in stress direction throughout the aegean region and was accompanied by strong uplift of the bey da lari region of the taurus mountains bordering the isparta angle in the west the isparta angle is the link between a the extensional province of western turkey bounded to the south by the actively subducting hellenic arc and b the uplifted anatolian plateau bounded to the south by the cyprus subduction zone understanding the miocene to recent tectonic development helps elucidate the kinematics of the region the new structural data presented lend no support for recent suggestions that the isparta angle and antalya bay represent parts of a regional compressional zone related to plate collision

the hydrogen and oxygen isotopic composition of precipitation evaporated mine water and river water in montana usa summary the isotopic composition of 42 samples of rain and snow collected in 2004 were used to construct a local meteoric water line lmwl for butte montana the derived equation d 7 31 18 o 7 5 r 2 0 987 represents one of the first published lmwls based on direct precipitation for any location in the northern rocky mountains samples of underground and surface mine waters in butte including the berkeley pit lake and a nearby tailings pond define a linear trend with a much lower slope and intercept than the lmwl d 5 00 18 o 49 5 r 2 0 991 consistent with non equilibrium evaporation at an average relative humidity of roughly 65 detailed evaporation calculations are presented which indicate that the shallow berkeley pit lake was approximately 25 evaporated in october 2003 whereas the surface of the tailings pond was at least 50 evaporated the intersection of the lmwl and mine water evaporation trend was used to calculate the average composition of recharge water to the flooded mine complex d 139 18 o 18 0 these values are considerably lighter than the weighted total of precipitation for the 2004 calendar year d 118 18 o 15 3 which is partly explained by the unusually low snowfall that montana experienced in 2004 based on this study the lmwl recently proposed by kendall and coplen 2001 kendall c coplen t b 2001 distribution of oxygen 18 and deuterium in river waters across the united states hydrological processes 15 1363 1393 from regression of isotopic data from a number of montana rivers is more accurately interpreted as an evaporation line isotopic trends based on river data should be treated with caution particularly in a semi arid region such as montana where rivers are often influenced by dams and irrigation withdrawals

the role of the kyrenia range lineament cyprus in the geological evolution of the eastern mediterranean area rewarding insights into major crustal lineaments come from the integrated study of well exposed examples one is the kyrenia range a narrow arcuate lineament of several hundred kilometres in length comprising northern cyprus and its offshore extension the kyrenia range consists mostly of mesozoic and tertiary sedimentary and subordinate volcanic and metamorphic rocks disposed in four rock groups separated by unconformities recording deformation events the lineament is dominated by a steeply dipping composite thrust pile located partly along and partly straddling the abrupt northward termination of crust similar to the troodos igneous complex at depth the 200 ma history of the lineament involved episodic rift passive margin active margin strike slip and uplift phases the area was rifted off gondwana in the late triassic to form a southerly turkish microcontinent capped by a gently subsiding carbonate platform after formation of a small ocean basin to the south during the cretaceous troodos ocean northward subduction began santonian the first major deformation d1 is attributed to pervasive dextral strike slip which removed the mesozoic passive margin and brecciated and metamorphosed the remaining platform in the maastrichtian and early tertiary the area subsided and scree breccias were shed from scarps into pelagic carbonate depositing seas while bimodal within plate type lavas were erupted in an extensional setting influenced by strike slip by mid eocene time shortening first evidence by flysch and olistostrome deposition culminated in strong southward thrusting d2 and localized metamorphism northward subduction south of cyprus ensued and the range lay in an extensional fore arc setting in late eocene and miocene time the area then subsided dramatically and accumulated thick turbidite sequences derived from eroding tauride mountain areas to the northeast faulting and general uplift in the late miocene was followed by renewed compressional deformation climaxing in mid pliocene time d3 with large scale thrusting and tilting pulsed vertical uplift continued through the quaternary similar volcanic and metamorphic rocks formed along the kyrenia lineament at intervals sedimentary rocks emerge as the most sensitive tectonic setting indicators long lived lineaments like the kyrenia range are inherently very complicated and perceived simple solutions in other cases should be viewed with some scepticism

sedimentary development and correlation of late quaternary terraces in the kyrenia range northern cyprus using a combination of sedimentology and optical luminescence data this study focuses on the younger of a series of quaternary terraces along the flanks of the kyrenia range in northern cyprus specifically the kyrenia girne and the koupia terraces the kyrenia girne terrace is tentatively correlated with oxygen isotope stage 5 125 ka and the koupia terrace with oxygen isotope stage 3 50 ka along the northern flank of the range the kyrenia girne terrace deposits 5 20 m above modern sea level typically begin with a basal lag conglomerate and then pass upwards into shallow marine calcarenites and then into variable aeolianites paleosols and fluvial deposits up to 20 m thick in contrast the koupia terrace 2 m above modern sea level consists of aeolianites and shallow marine calcarenites up to 8 m thick the equivalent deposits along the southern flank of the range are entirely non marine fluvial mud sands and conglomerates the marine to continental terrace systems can be tentatively correlated based on mapping height above modern sea level and sedimentary facies however variable preservation and patchy exposure require such correlations to be independently tested to achieve this a portable optically stimulated luminescence osl reader was used to determine the luminescence characteristics of the two terrace systems luminescence profiles show major differences in luminescence characteristics between the two terrace depositional systems which can be related to sedimentary processes provenance and age these features allow sections in different areas to be effectively correlated individual sections show luminescence properties that are generally consistent with an expected up sequence decrease in age however the younger koupia terrace deposits show higher luminescence intensities compared with the older kyrenia girne terrace deposits this can be explained by multiple phases of reworking of the kyrenia girne terrace deposits which changed the luminescence characteristics of the sediment the use of the portable osl reader is therefore an effective means of correlating late quaternary terrace deposits in northern cyprus and probably also elsewhere

tectonic framework and late cenozoic tectonic history of the northern part of cyprus implications for earthquake hazards and regional tectonics abstract located near the triple junction of the african arabia and eurasian plate cyprus has had an active and complex neotectonic history which includes devastating historical earthquakes investigations into the tectonic framework of the northern part of cyprus provide important insights into regional tectonism of the eastern mediterranean and middle east the northern part of cyprus is divided into two tectono stratigraphic terranes the boundary of which is the ovgos fault zone in the middle miocene the ovgos fault zone was a marine platform margin which separated open marine platform carbonates from deep marine turbidites transpressive movement along easterly and northeasterly trending structures dominated the late miocene deposition and preservation of messinian evaporites occurred in grabens at intersections of these trends n s compression began in the early pliocene and produced contractional tectonism along east west trends including major thrusting of allochthonous rocks in the kyrenia range quaternary deformation has been dominated by strike slip faults along northeast and northwest trends movement during the pleistocene occurred on several of these faults holocene movement is documented on one of these faults a seismic hazard is implied for the nicosia area because its proximity to the quaternary faults since the miocene cyprus has been continuously uplifted but the tectonic setting is controversial as some researchers invoke a subduction zone setting and others ascribe to a regime of strike slip tectonics our neotectonic framework is consistent with a restraining bend model for cyprus in a regional strike slip regime

paleoenvironmental changes at the messinian pliocene boundary in the eastern mediterranean southern cyprus basins significance of the messinian lago mare abstract the study of the late messinian early pliocene sediments in south cyprus pissouri and polemi basins and the comparison with the offshore coeval deposits drilled in the odp leg 160 boreholes provide new data illustrating the environmental changes which occurred in the eastern mediterranean at the end of the salinity crisis the messinian pliocene transition is marked by a very rapid environmental change indicated by sharp variations in lithology sedimentology microfaunal assemblages and stable isotope composition the latest messinian interval is dominated by the lago mare oligo mesohaline environments the most striking feature in the pissouri basin is the intercalation between the uppermost gypsum bed and the base of the zanclean deposits of four main horizons of paleosols interbedded with carbonates and conglomerates paleosols indicate periods of subaerial exposure long enough to permit pedogenesis to develop conglomerates indicate intense erosion of the troodos massif and its sedimentary cover as a result of the water level drop tectonic activity and more humid climatic conditions thus several subaerial exposure phases occurred in the marginal areas like the pissouri basin whereas shallow oligohaline conditions persisted in the deeper parts of the basin as indicated at odp site 968 both in the pissouri basin and on the flank of the erathostenes seamount the late messinian paleosols are directly overlain by the lowermost pliocene sediments deposited in well oxygenated deep marine conditions this drastic change of water depth shows that the water level of the late messinian saline to brackish lakes dropped far below that of the world ocean at least more than several hundred meters both these base level fluctuations and the oligohaline conditions caused intensive erosion karstification of the upper gypsum beds as also reported from many other mediterranean regions moreover the study of the polemi sections shows that oligohaline conditions had already started during the deposition of the upper gypsum sub unit typical brackish and fresh water assemblages are present in the last two gypsum layers and intergypsum beds this indicates that freshwater dilution i e the lago mare conditions resulted from a progressive change of the hydrological budget which started during deposition of the upper evaporites and climaxed after the deposition of the uppermost gypsum layer classical lago mare facies during this time periods of increased evaporation over precipitation led to deposition of the uppermost gypsum layers this evolution is interpreted as being due both to the severance from the open ocean and to the increasing contribution of the runoff precipitation versus marine inputs in the hydrological budget of the mediterranean

seismostratigraphy and neogene recent depositional history of the south central continental margin of cyprus abstract the neogene recent depositional history and tectonic setting of offshore and onshore central southern cyprus can be correlated using offshore seismic data and onshore geology seismic data allow the south cyprus continental margin to be divided into a narrow inner shelf area and a wider irregular outer slope area the well known top messinian reflector is recognized over the slope and western part of the shelf to the east an inferred quaternary eustatically induced erosion surface possibly a drowned marine terrace has been cut into lithified miocene sediments zones of folding in the offshore miocene sequence can be traced onshore where they correlate with several wnw ese trending structural lineaments of miocene age the formation of the lineaments is attributed to compression resulting from northwards subduction to the south of cyprus plio quaternary sediments are relatively thin to absent along the shelf of south central cyprus but thicken across the slope where they infill end miocene topography their distribution is consistent with evidence from onshore which indicates an end to deformation in southern cyprus around the close of the miocene relative inactivity in the pliocene and relative uplift in the quaternary the end of deformation in the pliocene may relate to southwards roll back of the inferred subduction zone trench

quaternary uplift and sea level change at an active plate boundary cyprus a combination of northward underthrusting of the african plate and serpentinite diapirism resulted in progressive uplift of cyprus during the quaternary the uplift was associated with the development of succession of alluvial fans and marine terraces marine terraces in coastal southern cyprus are developed at 350 360 m 110 100 m 60 50 m 11 8 m and 2 3 m above present sea level the terraces display sequences of regressive deltaic carbonate and siliciclastic sub littoral to littoral and sub aerial type alluvial fans of the fanglomerate group crop out on the northern flanks of the troodos massif forming extensive dissected peneplaned terraces later uplift resulted in the formation of channel fans and river terraces proximal sheetflood conglomerates pass distally into channelized braid plain environments on the southern margin of the troodos massif the fanglomerate group comprises braided channelized and floodplain sequences which pass laterally into littoral facies provenence studies indicate that uplift and resulting erosion of cyprus was centred on the troodos massif mount olympus radiometric dates indicate that uplift was rapid in the early and mid pleistocene in the late pleistocene holocene eustatic sea level changes and anthropogenic effects dominated while the rate of uplift was reduced with local submergence of southern coastal areas

late pliocene early pleistocene athalassa formation north central cyprus carbonate sand bodies in a shallow seaway between two emerging landmasses the late pliocene early pleistocene athalassa formation accumulated within the neogene mesaoria basin of northern cyprus bordered by two subdued but rising landmasses the kyrenia range to the north and the troodos ophiolitic massif to the south in the eastern part of the basin the formation is dominated by cross stratified bioclastic rich sandstones interpreted as shallow marine carbonate sand bodies the sediments are described in terms of six calcarenite facies and subfacies and one sandstone fades palaeocurrent analysis indicates that the carbonate sand bodies formed near the southern margin of the kyrenia landmass and then migrated southwards across a shallow marine platform the driving force is believed to have been storms generated by strong winds such winds during the late pliocene early quaternary were probably stronger than today in this area other factors influencing deposition of the formation include minor tectonic instability and probable eustatic sea level changes study of the athalassa formation thus provides insights into late pliocene pleistocene palaeoenvironments in the easternmost mediterranean

structural development of the central kyrenia range north cyprus in its regional setting in the eastern mediterranean region a detailed structural analysis of the mesozoic cenozoic geological development of the central segment of the kyrenia range in its regional tectonic context is given here the structural evidence comes from five structural traverses outcrop observations small scale structures and related regional evidence the majority of the structures are fault planes of which a subordinate number exhibit slickenlines fault plane data n 2688 with kinematics n 537 additional kinematic data were obtained from c s fabrics and folds small scale structures in each stratigraphic unit were backstripped to reveal relative chronology synthesis of the structural information indicates three phases of convergence related deformation 1 late cretaceous associated with greenschist facies metamorphism followed by exhumation that was probably associated with wnw ese to ene wsw trending high angle faulting 2 mid eocene associated with southward thrusting coupled with n s strike slip transfer faulting and oblique faulting in an overall sinistral transpressive stress regime 3 late miocene earliest pliocene involving southward thrusting and folding localised back thrusting extensive fault reactivation and large scale segmentation of the range intense uplift of the kyrenia range took place during the plio pleistocene possibly related to the collision of the eratosthenes seamount with the cyprus trench to the south of the island the three main convergent phases relate to stages of northward subduction and diachronous continental collision affecting the northerly active continental margin of the southern neotethys

sedimentology of two fan delta systems in the pliocene pleistocene of the mesaoria basin cyprus abstract two fan delta systems have been recognised in the pliocene pleistocene deposits of the mesaoria basin an asymmetrical half graben located on the northern side of the troodos ophiolite cyprus the older fan delta system the pliocene nicosia formation was deposited when the mesaoria basin was actively subsiding it comprises a number of small isolated fan deltas which built across a narrow

structure and tectonics of the eastern cyprean arc abstract the geometry and nature of the eastern segment of the cyprean arc are little understood several hypotheses have been put forward to explain the tectonic situation there recent marine geophysical data for this region mapped several deep and shallow structural elements the most prominent element is a ridge the latakia ridge which extends from the syrian coast near latakia south westward to meet with an east west trending bathymetric escarpment east of the hecateus ridge the new seismic profiles suggest that these two elements mark the present plate boundary along the eastern cyprean arc the latakia ridge is a young and still active feature it was formed by southward migration of the plate boundary the ridge probably originated as a large thrust sheet which later when the convergence direction was changed became a zone of wrench faulting the ridge is still forming today and serves as a dam to the sediments north of it the wrench faulting activity is more pronounced in the eastern segment of the ridge

the hecataeus rise easternmost mediterranean a structural record of miocene quaternary convergence and incipient continent continent collision at the african anatolian plate boundary abstract the hecataeus rise represents a plateau like structure adjacent to the southern cyprus margin and directly next to the cyprus eratosthenes seamount convergence zone where incipient continent continent collision is believed to occur based on newly acquired seismic reflection and bathymetric data we report on the miocene to quaternary structural evolution of this yet underexplored sector along the african anatolian plate boundary a period of pre messinian compression has significantly deformed the western and southern part of the plateau area offshore continuation of onshore cyprus lineaments attests the existence of a pre messinian structural link between cyprus and the hecataeus rise owing to its relatively elevated position during the messinian salinity crisis the hecataeus rise experienced wide spread messinian erosion and only local deposition of evaporites which were precipitated within small isolated sub basins post messinian convergence was accommodated along the southeastern flank of the hecataeus rise where ne sw trending anticlinal structures experienced reactivation and significant growth a prominent intra pliocene quaternary unconformity in the northwestern part of the plateau area may correlate with the pliocene pleistocene transition and indicates the near synchronous occurrence of several tectonostratigraphic events we suggest that these events represent a chain of structural and depositional changes initiated by incipient collision of eratosthenes seamount with cyprus and the northwestern corner of the hecataeus rise collision derived uplift of cyprus resulted in vertical separation between cyprus and the hecataeus rise and the development of a prominent unconformity in the northwestern part of the plateau area increasing the slopes adjacent to cyprus facilitated more energetic downslope sediment transport expressed by the development of sediment waves and the evolution of a prominent canyon structure at the northeastern limit of the plateau area

tectonic reconstruction of cyprus reveals late miocene continental collision of africa and anatolia abstract the extended northern continental margin of africa is currently colliding with and under thrusting northward below cyprus the age of onset of this collision is poorly constrained but is critical if we are to quantify continental subduction and evaluate its role during spectacular recent uplift of southern turkey from 7 ma to the present here we reevaluate the evolution of northern cyprus and document the modern structure of the kyrenia fold thrust belt in a balanced cross section for the first time to determine the timing and amount of shortening the belt deformed an upper cretaceous to miocene stratigraphy which was deposited onto a metamorphic basement the fold thrust belt was previously proposed to have formed during two stages in eocene and late miocene time based on stratigraphic and limited structural evidence we revaluate evidence for an eocene phase of thrusting in kyrenia and find that 1 repetitions of eocene and older rocks are explained by miocene thrusting and newly documented olistoliths were misinterpreted as pre miocene thrust slices 2 uplift in eocene time was not isolated to kyrenia but also affected northern arabia and results from regional dynamic topography or forebulge formation based on kinematic constraints from a plate reconstruction we interpret that metamorphic rocks in kyrenia were metamorphosed by cretaceous burial below the troodos ophiolite and were subsequently exhumed by upper plate extension during latest cretaceous obduction onto the african margin the latest cretaceous miocene plate boundary between africa and the taurides was located to the north of kyrenia the kyrenia fold thrust belt accommodated a minimum of 17 5 km of shortening as a result of 9 6 ma thrusting as a result of initial africa taurides collision the northern edge of african continental crust arrived below the taurides where it has been seismologically imaged in late pleistocene time and may have caused or contributed to recently recognised major tauride uplift since 0 5 ma

lithospheric boundaries and plate motions in the cyprus area abstract accurate location of earthquakes recorded by seismographs and reliable fault plane solutions of strong recent earthquakes are used to define the plate boundaries and the pattern of plate motion in cyprus and surrounding area spatial distribution of shallow h

evidence for a post 3 16 ma change in nubia eurasia north america plate motions we combine updated gps velocities from the nubian nu eurasian eu and north american na plates with 500 new 3 16 myr average seafloor spreading rates and nine transform fault azimuths from the northern atlantic and arctic basin seafloor spreading centers to estimate and test for changes in the relative motion between these plates the numerous new seafloor spreading rates and gps velocities improve our ability to detect recent changes in the relative motions of these plates the angular velocity vector that best fits the eu na gps velocities lies significantly north of the 3 ma average pole in accord with previously published geologic evidence that the eu na pole has migrated northward since v3 ma although we also find evidence for a significant post 3 ma change in nu na motion it is less compelling because the nubian plate gps velocity field is sparse and nu na seafloor spreading rates appear to have remained steady within the 1 mm yr 31 uncertainties if we systematically decrease the seafloor spreading rates to correct for outward displacement of seafloor spreading magnetic lineations the nu eu pole derived from gps site velocities lies more than 30 angular degrees south of the tightly constrained 3 ma average estimate and predicts significantly slower and more oblique present day nu eu convergence in the mediterranean both models for nu eu motion pass a key test for their accuracy namely they correctly predict strike slip motion along the well mapped gloria fault east of the azores the change to more oblique nu eu motion may reflect increasing difficulty in maintaining margin normal convergence within this continent continent collision zone 8 2003 published by elsevier b v

timing of uplift of the troodos massif cyprus constrained by sedimentary and magnetic polarity evidence abstract plio pleistocene sediments exposed around the ophiolitic troodos massif document spectacular uplift from below sea level to a maximum height of c 2000 m sedimentation reflects a dominant control of focused tectonic uplift modified by the effects of glacio eustatic sea level change and climatic change understanding the uplift and controls on deposition has been hindered by an inadequate age model here we present a preliminary investigation of the polarity of remanent magnetizations recorded within the upper part of the pliocene succession in the pissouri and mesaoria basins and from the pleistocene marine terrace deposits that border the troodos massif when integrated with available lithostatigraphic and biostratigraphic data the main results are as follows focused uplift of the troodos massif began during the late pliocene either between 2 14 and 1 95 ma or immediately prior to 1 77 ma shallow marine ophiolite derived clastic and bioclastic sediments accumulated in both the mesaoria and pissouri basins implying that the troodos massif was uplifted as a single tectonic entity non marine deltaic and fluvial facies prograded into both of the basins during the pleistocene 1 77 ma recent marine terraces in sw and south cyprus were cut and covered by littoral sediments from

luminescence characterisation of quartz rich cover sands from ne thailand abstract the genesis of a several meter thick cover sand layer which is widely distributed in mainland se asia has been the subject of much debate being considered by some to be an aeolian mantle of late pleistocene early holocene origin and by others to represent a holocene biomantle samples were collected from three sites in nw thailand in 1998 to assess the potential of luminescence studies for characterisation and chronometric studies of the layer the material is a quartz rich iron stained sand with high luminescence sensitivities a pronounced 325 c tl peak and high sensitivity to phototransfer and osl a number of methods for estimating stored dose were assessed of which additive tl and regenerative osl procedures produced good laboratory results these methods have been used to produce stored dose and apparent age profiles for one of the sites the data are consistent with a late pleistocene holocene aeolian deposition process possibly modified in the upper layers by bioturbation however the possibility that the recorded profiles are the result of heterogeneous mixing of bleached and unbleached grains within the biomantle model cannot at this stage be excluded the material has excellent luminescence properties and it is likely that further luminescence studies will be able to distinguish between the formation models and contribute significantly to understanding of these regionally significant sediments

a mineral quantification method for wall rocks at open pit mines and application to the martha au ag mine waihi new zealand abstract pit lakes that result from open pit mining are potential water resources or potential environmental problems depending on lake water quality wall rock mineralogy can affect lake chemistry if surface water inputs and or groundwater inputs and or lake water in contact with submerged wall rocks react with the wall rock minerals this study presents a mineral quantification method to measure the distribution and concentration of wall rock minerals in open pit mines and applies the method to the martha epithermal au ag mine waihi new zealand heterogeneous ore deposits like martha require a large number of wall rock samples to accurately define mineral distributions x ray diffraction analyses of 125 wall rock samples identified the most abundant minerals in the wall rocks as quartz adularia albite illite chlorite kaolinite pyrite and calcite distribution maps of these minerals defined 8 relatively homogenous areas of wall rock referred to as mineral associations weakly altered propylitic fresh argillic weathered argillic oxidized potassic quartz veins and post mineralization deposits x ray fluorescence leco furnace and neutron activation analyses of 46 representative samples produced the geochemical dataset used to assign quantities of elements to observed minerals and to calculate average mineral concentrations in each association thin section petrography and calcite concentrations from sobek acid digestions confirm the calculated mineralogy providing validation for the method calcite and pyrite concentrations allowed advanced acid base accounting for each mineral association identifying 3 potential acid producing associations and one potential acid neutralizing association the results target areas where detailed hydrologic and kinetic tests would be valuable in the next stage of pit lake evaluation detailed understanding of wall rock mineralogy will help strengthen predictions of pit lake water quality

structures and kinematics in the northeastern mediterranean a study of an irregular plate boundary abstract extensional structures are prominent in the northeastern mediterranean a unique sector of the africa eurasia plate convergence zone to explain this paradoxical situation we analyse here the young tectonics of this region by examining its structural elements and plate kinematics offshore multichannel seismic reflection profiles and onland geology show that the stuctural settings are different on the two sides of the northeastern mediterranean triple junction afr arb ana on the east stuctures controlled by strike slip and by compression coexist whereas on the west compression is not very conspicuous here deep basins separated by a partly submerged ridge are prominent we interpret the ridge which comprises the kyrenia misis andirin unit at its core as a large flower structure which extends from southeastern turkey to cyprus the adana cilicia and the iskenderun latakia mesaoria basins on its flanks are interpreted as due to extension this interpretation agrees with the relative motions between the africa arabia eurasia and anatolia plates in this region analysis of the local plate kinematics reveals that strike slip predominates along the southern boundary of the anatolia plate in this region as a result of anatolia s westward escape east of the triple junction this motion is associated with comparable shortening transverse to the plate boundary whereas west of the triple junction the motion transverse to the plate boundary varies between slight compression to extension depending mainly on the local strike of the plate boundaries these variations calculated from regional data correlate well with the observed structural changes along the northeastern mediterranean sector of the plate convergence zone the structural kinematic analysis explains both the lateral changes in the deformation style and the existence of local extension in the northeastern mediterranean

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

gps evidence for northward motion of the sinai block implications for e mediterranean tectonics gps survey sites in the sinai peninsula show northerly motion relative to africa nubia at 1 4f0 8 mm yr north and 0 4f0 8 mm yr west continuous igs gps sites in israel west of the dead sea fault show a similar northerly sense of motion relative to nubia 2 4f0 6 mm yr north and 0 04f0 7 mm yr east suggesting that the entire sinai block south of lebanon is characterized by northward translation relative to the nubian plate we develop an elastic block model constrained by the gps results that is consistent with the regional tectonics and allows us to estimate slip rates for sinai bounding faults including the gulf of aqaba southern dead sea fault system 4 4f0 3 mm yr left lateral the gulf of suez 1 9f0 3 mm yr left lateral and 1 5f0 4 mm yr extension and the cyprus arc predominantly convergence at 8 9f0 4 mm yr along the western segment and 6 0f0 4 mm yr left lateral strike slip along the eastern segment these observations imply that the sinai peninsula and levant region comprise a separate sub plate sandwiched between the arabian and nubian plates d 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

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

upper miocene pleistocene deformation of the girne kyrenia range and dar dere ovgos lineaments northern cyprus role in collision and tectonic escape in the easternmost mediterranean region

the structure of the africa anatolia plate boundary in the eastern mediterranean new marine deep seismic reflection data from south of cyprus to the syrian coast provide images of the upper crustal structure of the cyprean arc indicating that the deformation is partitioned along strike slip fault systems distributed over a wide zone rather than forming a sharp plate boundary between african and anatolian plates three major submarine strike slip fault systems tens of kilometers in length are mapped which follow bathymetric features and merge together toward the east these structures exhibit the three dimensional characteristics typical of strike slip deformation zones throughout the seven pre stack depth migrated sections including several sets of positive flower structures forming bathymetric ridges and the intervening contemporaneous subbasins beneath the plio quaternary sediments 500 m thick that are blanketing the whole area and that reflect only the main surface traces of the fault systems the subbasins are of varied dimensions and have rapid lateral changes in the thickness of the sedimentary fill they include two major unconformities that have been correlated throughout the data marked by the m and k reflections the m reflection is well imaged above varied thickness of messinian evaporites and the k reflection commonly appears at the base of syntectonic tertiary age sediments within the eastern cyprean arc the k reflection corresponds to the basement cover contact indicating that the strike slip tectonic scenario may have been active since the uppermost cretaceous or lowermost paleogene times to present the active deformation front of the alpine belt in the eastern mediterranean corresponds to a strike slip fault system that forms a 110 arc and coincides at the southern slope of the hecateaus rise continuing along the latakia ridge to the syrian coast the mapped structures fit within a general kinematic framework of left lateral transcurrent deformation that transfers slip from the subduction zone southwest of cyprus into the dead sea transform system in the east this change in the mode of deformation at the africa anatolia plate boundary occurs toward the junction between african anatolian and arabian plates

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

evidence from the kyrenia range cyprus of the northerly active margin of the southern neotethys during late cretaceous early cenozoic time sedimentary geology and planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy have shed light on the geological development of the northern active continental margin of the southern neotethys in the kyrenia range following regional triassic rifting a carbonate platform developed during jurassic cretaceous time followed by its regional burial deformation and greenschist facies metamorphism the platform was exhumed by late maastrichtian time and unconformably overlain by locally derived carbonate breccias passing upwards into upper maastrichtian pelagic carbonates in places the pelagic carbonates are interbedded with sandstone turbidites derived from mixed continental basic volcanic neritic carbonate and pelagic lithologies in addition two contrasting volcanogenic sequences are exposed in the western central kyrenia range separated by a low angle tectonic contact the first is a thickening upward sequence of campanian lower maastrichtian pelagic carbonates silicic tuffs silicic lava debris flows and thick bedded to massive rhyolitic lava flows the second sequence comprises two intervals of basaltic extrusive rocks interbedded with pelagic carbonates the basaltic rocks unconformably overlie the metamorphosed carbonate platform whereas no base to the silicic volcanic rocks is exposed additional basaltic lavas are exposed throughout the kyrenia range where they are dated as late maastrichtian and late paleocene middle eocene in age in our proposed tectonic model related to northward subduction of the southern neotethys the kyrenia platform was thrust beneath a larger tauride microcontinental unit to the north and then was rapidly exhumed prior to late maastrichtian time pelagic carbonates and sandstone turbidites of mixed largely continental provenance then accumulated along a deeply submerged continental borderland during late maastrichtian time the silicic and basaltic volcanogenic rocks erupted in adjacent areas and were later tectonically juxtaposed the campanian early maastrichtian silicic volcanism reflects continental margin type arc magmatism in contrast the upper maastrichtian and paleocene middle eocene basaltic volcanic rocks erupted in an extensional or transtensional setting likely to relate to the anticlockwise rotation of the troodos microplate

gps constraints on continental deformation in the africa arabia eurasia continental collision zone and implications for the dynamics of plate interactions 1 the gps derived velocity field 1988 2005 for the zone of interaction of the arabian african nubian somalian and eurasian plates indicates counterclockwise rotation of a broad area of the earth s surface including the arabian plate adjacent parts of the zagros and central iran turkey and the aegean peloponnesus relative to eurasia at rates in the range of 20 30 mm yr this relatively rapid motion occurs within the framework of the slow moving 5 mm yr relative motions eurasian nubian and somalian plates the circulatory pattern of motion increases in rate toward the hellenic trench system we develop an elastic block model to constrain present day plate motions relative euler vectors regional deformation within the interplate zone and slip rates for major faults substantial areas of continental lithosphere within the region of plate interaction show coherent motion with internal deformations below 1 2 mm yr including central and eastern anatolia turkey the southwestern aegean peloponnesus the lesser caucasus and central iran geodetic slip rates for major block bounding structures are mostly comparable to geologic rates estimated for the most recent geological period 3 5 myr we find that the convergence of arabia with eurasia is accommodated in large part by lateral transport within the interior part of the collision zone and lithospheric shortening along the caucasus and zagros mountain belts around the periphery of the collision zone in addition we find that the principal boundary between the westerly moving anatolian plate and arabia east anatolian fault is presently characterized by pure left lateral strike slip with no fault normal convergence this implies that extrusion is not presently inducing westward motion of anatolia on the basis of the observed kinematics we hypothesize that deformation in the africa arabia eurasia collision zone is driven in large part by rollback of the subducting african lithosphere beneath the hellenic and cyprus trenches aided by slab pull on the southeastern side of the subducting arabian plate along the makran subduction zone we further suggest that the separation of arabia from africa is a response to plate motions induced by active subduction

pliocene pleistocene sedimentary tectonic development of the mesaoria mesarya basin in an incipient diachronous collisional setting facies evidence from the north of cyprus

kinematic history of a reactivated oceanic suture the mamonia complex suture zone sw cyprus the mamonia complex suture zone in sw cyprus marks an arcuate tectonic suture between an upper cretaceous oceanic microplate of supra subduction zone origin troodos complex and a deformed triassic passive margin sequence mamonia complex mapping of the serpentinite filled fault zones that define the suture zone combined with microstructural studies of its constituent fault rocks has revealed evidence of three main tectonic events of upper cretaceous age 1 high temperature c 600 c transform related dextral strike slip and localized metamorphism of mamonia complex units c 90 83 ma 2 retrograde hydration c 83 73 ma 3 regional contractional reactivation at low temperatures which ceased by the latest maastrichtian c 65 ma the present day structural geometries are interpreted as the result of maastrichtian contractional reactivation of a pre existing steep and irregular structural architecture that formed during transtension the resultant orientation of finite strain axes and thrust displacements display a radial distribution documenting near fault normal contraction along the whole length of the arcuate suture zone this pattern of displacements suggests a model whereby the troodos microplate impinged on the mamonia complex during westerly to southwesterly directed plate motion contractionally reactivating the mechanically weak suture zone