Messinian evaporites across the Anaximander Mountains, Sırrı Erinç Plateau and the Rhodes and Finike basins, eastern Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

In various previous studies the Messinian evaporite successions are reported to be absent across Rhodes and Finike basins, the Anaximander Mountains, and the Sırrı Erinç Plateau regions of the eastern Mediterranean. In this paper we use new seismic reflection profiles and interpretation to document that the Messinian evaporite successions are indeed present as a notably thinner layer across these areas. We based this interpretation on several lines of evidence, including (a) the absence of a structural barrier between the regions of the eastern Mediterranean where evaporites are present and the region where they were purportedly absent, which would have been needed to isolate these regions from the evaporative Mediterranean basin(s), (b) the absence of a notable lateral lithofacies transition between the regions where Messinian evaporites are present and the region where they were reportedly absent, (c) the acoustic similarities in the new industry seismic reflection profiles between the successions below the TS/TES (i.e., M–reflector) in the Mediterranean Ridge and Antalya Basin where the Messinian evaporites are present, across the Anaximander Mountains and Sırrı Erinç Plateau into the Rhodes and Finike basins where they were reportedly absent (d) the strong velocity contrast at the TS/TES where the P-wave velocities dramatically increase from ~1900–2100ms−1 within the uppermost Miocene–Quaternary Unit 1 to ~3500–4600ms−1 in the underlying Unit 2.