Origin of the Eastern Mediterranean basin: a reevaluation

Abstract

The origin of the Eastern Mediterranean basin (EMB) by rifting along its passive margins is reevaluated. Evidence from these margins shows that this basin formed before the Middle Jurassic; where the older history is known, formation by Triassic or even Permian rifting is indicated. Off Sicily, a deep Permian basin is recorded. In Mesozoic times, Adria was located next to the EMB and moved laterally along their common boundary, but there is no clear record of rifting or significant convergence. Farther east, the Tauride block, a fragment of Africa–Arabia, separated from this continent in the Triassic. After that the Tauride block and Adria were separate units that drifted independently. The EMB originated before Pangaea disintegrated. Two scenarios are thus possible. If the configuration of Pangaea remained the same throughout its life span until the opening of the central Atlantic Ocean (configuration A), then much of the EMB is best explained as a result of separation of Adria from Africa in the Permian, but this basin was modified by later rifting. The Levant margin formed when the Tauride block was detached, but space limitations require this block to have also extended farther east. Alternatively, the original configuration (A2) of Pangaea may have changed by ∼500 km of left-lateral slip along the Africa–North America boundary. This implies that Adria was not located next to Africa, and most of the EMB formed by separation of the Tauride block from Africa. Adria was placed next to the EMB during the transition from the Pangaea A2 to the Pangaea A configuration in the Triassic. Both scenarios raise some problems, but these are more severe for the first one. Better constraints on the history of Pangaea are thus required to decipher the formation of the Eastern Mediterranean basin.