Impact and implications of the Afro-Eurasian collision south of Cyprus from reflection seismic data

Abstract

Abstract The Cyprus Arc in the Eastern Mediterranean represents the active collision front between the African and Eurasian (Anatolian) Plates. Along the Cyprus Arc, the Eratosthenes Seamount is believed to have been blocking the northward motion of the African Plate since the Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene. Based on a dense grid of 2D reflection seismic profiles covering the Eratosthenes Seamount and western Levant Basin offshore Cyprus, new observations regarding the Cyprus Arc collision front at the triple transition zone Eratosthenes Seamount–Levant Basin–Hecataeus Rise are presented. The data show that the Levant Basin is filled with ~ 10 km of sediments of Early Mesozoic (probably Jurassic) to Plio-Quaternary age with only a localized deformation affecting the Miocene–Oligocene rock units. The sediments onlap directly against the steep eastern flank of the Eratosthenes Seamount to the west and the southern flank of the Hecataeus Rise to the north. The sediments show no deformation that could be associated with collision and are undeformed even very close to the two prominent structures. Pinching out of the Base Miocene reflector in the Levant Basin due to onlapping of the Middle Miocene reflector indicates uplift of the Eratosthenes Seamount and the Hecataeus Rise. In contrast to the Messinian Evaporites north of the Eratosthenes Seamount, the salt in the Levant Basin, even close to the Hecataeus Rise, is tectonically undeformed. It is proposed that the Eratosthenes Seamount, the western Levant Basin and the Hecataeus Rise act as one tectonic unit. This implies that the collision front is located north of this unit and that the Hecataeus Rise shields the sediments south of it from deformation associated with collision of the African and Anatolian Plates.