Late Quaternary sedimentation in the Tyro and Kretheus basins, southeast of Crete

Abstract

This paper summarizes micropaleontologic (foraminifera, calcareous nannoplankton, radiolaria, pteropods and pollen grains) and sedimentologic piston core data from the Eastern Mediterranean Tyro and Kretheus basins. 14C datings indicate a Holocene age for the Tyro Basin cores. The latter show anoxic bottom conditions throughout, while the Kretheus Basin core indicates anoxic conditions prior to 3000 years ago and oxic conditions after that time. Resedimentation — through slumps, turbidity currents and from suspension — resulted in high sediment accumulation rates in both basins. Reworking in the Tyro Basin predominantly originated from the basin flanks, while the presence of common to abundant metamorphic clastics in the Kretheus Basin points to a more distant source. The Minoan eruption of Santorini (ca.3350 yrs B.P.) which is supposed to have caused a gigantic tsunami, is linked to the presence of turbidites and a thick homogenite in the Tyro Basin. The same event may be responsible for the initiation of oxic conditions in the Kretheus Basin.