The crustal structure of the transition from the East Black Sea Basin to the Shatsky Ridge from the reinterpretation of deep seismic sounding data on profiles 14-15-16

Abstract

The paper represents the results of velocity modeling (ray-tracing modeling) performed for three deep seismic sounding (DSS) profiles 14, 15 and 16 acquired in the eastern part of the Black Sea more than 40 years ago. These profiles represent a system of radial profiles diverging from one common shot point in the East Black Sea Basin (EBSB) and crossing the Shatsky Ridge. The performed modeling showed that thin (~10 km) crystalline EBSB crust, with velocities increasing from 6,5 km/s in the basement to 7,0 km/s on the Moho (20—22 km), is overlain by sediments as thick as ~10 km. The continental crust of the Shatsky Ridge of ~30 km thickness comprises two layers — the upper crust (Vp=6,0÷6,5 km/s) as thick as 15 km and the 10 km thick lower crust (Vp =6,5÷7,0 km/s). The transition from thin EBSB suboceanic crust to the Shatsky Ridge continental crust occurs rather sharply, over an interval of ~25 km, where changes are observed in all crustal layers — from sediments to the Moho. The transition of the two types of the crust is ascribed by a lineament, parallel to the coastline of the eastern part of the Black Sea, and is associated with a collinear Alushta-Batumi magnetic anomaly of the same (NW) strike. These features may testify in favor of the tectonic nature of the transition zone, the formation and activation of which took place during the main stages of evolution of the study region — at the closure of Mesozoic Tethys ocean, during the riftogenic opening of the EBSB in Cretaceous, and during the Alpine orogeny in the compression setting. The wedge-like shape of the EBSB, expanding southeastward up to 160—180 km width, is consistent with the concept of riftogenic opening of the EBSB in the Early Cretaceous as a result of clockwise rotation of the Mid Black Sea Ridge.