Deformational styles of the eastern Mediterranean Ridge and surroundings from combined swath mapping and seiemic reflection profiling

Autor: Jean Benkhelil, Caroline Huguen, Eric Chaumillon, J.M. Woodside, Achim J Kopf, Jean Mascle, A. Volkonskaia
Přispěvatelé: Sedimentology, Marges continentales (MC), Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) (BRGM)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-TOTAL FINA ELF-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre littoral de géophysique (CLDG), Institut du Littoral et de l'Environnement-Université de La Rochelle (ULR), Free University of Amsterdam, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California [San Diego] (UC San Diego), University of California-University of California, Department of Geology [Moscow], Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU)
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2001
Předmět:
Zdroj: Huguen, C, Mascle, J, Chaumillon, E, Woodside, J M, Benkhelil, J, Kopf, A & Volkonskaia, A 2001, ' Deformational styles of the eastern Mediterranean Ridge and surroundings from combined swath mapping and seiemic reflection profiling ', Tectonophysics, vol. 343, pp. 21-47 . https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(01)00185-8
Tectonophysics, 343, 21-47. Elsevier
Tectonophysics
Tectonophysics, Elsevier, 2001, 343 (1-2), pp.21-47. ⟨10.1016/S0040-1951(01)00185-8⟩
ISSN: 0040-1951
1879-3266
DOI: 10.1016/S0040-1951(01)00185-8
Popis: Recent swath mapping and seismic reflection profiling across the eastern(Levantine) branch of the Mediterranean Ridge (MR), in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, illustrate a strong variability of the deformational styles that characterize this precollisional accretionary prism. Along a north-south cross-section of the MR, a structural analysis, based on surface mapping, combined with vertical seismic reflection data, reveals two main structural domains. A southern Outer Domain consists of a series of three disconnected distinct fold belts. Folding affects a sedimentary cover which includes an approximately 2-km thick Pliocene and Quaternary wedge in this domain, resting on fairly thick Messinian evaporitic sequences that act as probable decollement layers. The MR Inner Domain includes three regions showing evidences of strong internal deformations and of numerous probable mud cones and mud flows, but no seismic evidence of significant underlying Messinian evaporites can be detected. The inner sub-regions are thrusting northwards over an area made of faulted, and locally uplifted, acoustic basement blocks that constitute the southernmost extension of the Crete continental margin, acting as a continental buttress for the MR. This innermost domain is itself structurally disconnected from the Crete continental margin by the en echelon Pliny troughs system that shows evidence of left lateral displacement. Altogether, the different structural and sedimentary cover patterns reveal a strong contrast between both MR Inner and Outer Domains, and important lateral variations within the Inner MR itself. Strike-slip faulting seams to characterizes both areas, and large-scale mud accumulations potentially exist in the northern one. Our results support a model of imbricated accretionary prisms, including, at least, two stages: (1) a pre-Messinian stage during which the Inner MR probably developed in response to northward subduction of the African lithosphere beneath southern Europe, and (2) a Messinian to post-Messinian period, during which the kinematics of the Aegean-Anatolian microplates and the presence of thick Messinian deposits became prevalent and which led to the creation of the Outer MR folded wedge piling against the previous one. In our interpretation, the occurrence of thick Messinian evaporites in this area induces important local and regional modifications of the structural pattern. Strike-slip activities reflect partitioning related to oblique subduction, and likely lateral escape of the sedimentary cover in the whole studied area. ©2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: