The tectonic regime of the southeastern Mediterranean continental margin

The continental margin of the southeastern Mediterranean off Israel and Sinai is transected by a series of NW-SE-trending faults. Evidence of lateral displacements along these faults is presented. The faults off Israel were found to terminate at the eastern edge of the Levant Basin, whereas the faults of the same series which transect the Sinai continental margin were found to extend hundreds of kilometers further northwestwards. The Levant Basin and the adjacent continental margin are both covered by a thick sedimentary sequence, but whereas the Basin is underlain by an oceanic crust, the margin is underlain by a continental crust. The effects of these two types of crust on the structure of the continental margin are discussed. It is suggested that at least since the Late Neogene the marine province was under a tectonic regime of regional subsidence, the continental province was affected by rifting and faulting, and the tectonics of the continental margin reflect the superposition of these two regimes.