Late Tertiary seismic facies and structures of the Levant passive margin off central Israel, eastern Mediterranean

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Abstract

The Late Tertiary seismic facies and structures of the Levant passive margin off central Israel in the eastern Mediterranean Sea were studied by the interpretation of more than 3000 km of seismic reflection profiles, most of them previously unpublished single-channel profiles. The Neogene growth and evolution of this margin was influenced by the interaction of three main processes: (1) the outbuilding and loading of the margin by the Nile sediments since the Pliocene, (2) uplift and tectonic subsidence related to the tectonic activity along the Dead Sea Transform, and (3) the effect of the above processes on the thick Messinian evaporites which caused many salt-tectonic features including flowage, piercement diapirs, slumps, and en-echelon listric normal faults in the supra-salt sediments. We suggest that the study area may be divided into two segments, north and south of Caesarea. These segments vary in their depositional environment, the amount of sediment supply and load, salt-related features and tectonic activity. We propose that the northern segment is affected by low sediment supply and by the continued uplift of the Carmel structure, and that this segment may even be a part of this structure. The southern segment has been affected by the deposition and loading in the Nile-derived sediments since the Pliocene. Three main depositional sequences were observed in the southern segment: (1) sequence I (Early Pliocene) onlaps the top of the Messinian evaporites representing a rise of sea-level and renewed subsidence, (2) sequence II (Early Pleistocene) is lens-shaped, thinning to the north, west and east and was derived during a relatively short time interval from the Pre-Nile, and (3) sequence III (since the Pleistocene) represents a major episode of continental shelf construction.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)253-273
Number of pages21
JournalMarine Geology
Volume105
Issue number1-4
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1992
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the Ministry of Energy and the NationalO il CompanyL td. who authorizedth e useo f the SeismicG eocode(1 983)p rofilesa ndthe well data, Dr. Y. Mart for permissionto use his 1978s ingle-channseel ismics urvey,a nd Dr. J.K.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oceanography
  • Geology
  • Geochemistry and Petrology

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