Effects of Cretaceous plume and convergence, and Early Tertiary tectonomagmatic quiescence on the central and southern Levant
continental margin
Amit Segev
Michael Rybakov
10.6084/m9.figshare.3454826.v1
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Effects_of_Cretaceous_plume_and_convergence_and_Early_Tertiary_tectonomagmatic_quiescence_on_the_central_and_southern_Levant___continental_margin/3454826
<p>This study synthesizes geological and geophysical evidence concerning the structure and character of the central and southern
Jurassic Levant continental margin during Cretaceous–Tertiary time. From the beginning of the Cretaceous and until Cenomanian
time, the Levant margin was strongly affected by extensional tectonics, cyclical igneous activity and rifting coupled with
thermal and vertical fluctuations. It is suggested here that during the Senonian–Maastrichtian convergence of Afro-Arabia
and the Mesotethys, and the Tauride part of Eurasia, the Herodotus basin oceanic crust subducted along the Eratosthenes Arc,
below the short-lived abandoned Levant back-arc basin. Such a plate configuration assumes regional shear zones, as follows:
(1) between the Eratosthenes Arc from the south and the Kyrenia Arc from the north: the NW–SE Carmel–Azraq–Sirhan fault system;
(2) between the Sinai and the African plates: the Suez fault system; (3) between the Mesotethys and the African plates: the
northern Egypt–Sinai–Negev west–east transversal fault system. Distinct tectonomagmatic quiescence between Late Maastrichtian
and Late Eocene time allowed thermal relaxation and subsidence of the Levant margin until the apparent achievement of local
isostatic compensation and the consequent development of the longest transgression over the Afro-Arabian ramp.
</p>
2016-06-21 12:22:41
Suez fault system
Levant margin
Herodotus basin oceanic crust subducted
Cretaceous
Eratosthenes Arc
NW
Distinct tectonomagmatic quiescence
convergence
African plates
Mesotethy
Tertiary tectonomagmatic quiescence
Geology