Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of the Geological Society

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by HARBURY, N. A. Articles by HALL, R. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Mesozoic extensional history of the southern Tethyan continental margin in the SE Aegean

¹ Department of Geology, Birkbeck College London, Gresse Street, London W1P IP A, UK
² Department of Geological Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK

The islands of Rhodes, Alimnia and Symi are situated at the eastern end of the Hellenic arc. Well exposed on these islands are a series of nappes composed of Mesozoic-early Tertiary, principally carbonate, sequences which formed the sedimentary cover of the southern Tethyan margin and were stacked during Alpine deformation in the late Palaeogene. The stratigraphy of these sequences is described and interpreted as preserving a transition from a carbonate platform through slope to basin. The sequences formed part of the cover of a passive continental margin but this margin differed from typical modern margins in recording several episodes of extension with no clear evidence of ocean crust formation in the SE Aegean. Three important episodes of extension are recorded: a platform-basin topography was initiated by Mid-Late Triassic rifting, late Liassic extension led to platform collapse and development of carbonate slopes, and renewed Late Cretaceous extension further reduced the size of carbonate platforms. The Late Cretaceous extension was probably linked to the formation of ocean crust further east, in Cyprus and Turkey. Sedimentological evidence indicates that the slope was eastward-facing and the platform-basin margin was orientated approximately north-south. This evidence is not consistent with previously proposed palaeogeographic reconstructions of the region based on tracing the isopic zones of the Hellenides through the arc. A new two-dimensional reconstruction of the form of the southern Tethyan margin in the SE Aegean is proposed.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				I. R. Sharp and A. H. F. Robertson Tectonic-sedimentary evolution of the western margin of the Mesozoic Vardar Ocean: evidence from the Pelagonian and Almopias zones, northern Greece Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2006; 260(1): 373 - 412. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. H. F. Robertson, J. E. Dixon, S. Brown, A. Collins, A. Morris, E. Pickett, I. Sharp, and T. Ustaomer Alternative tectonic models for the Late Palaeozoic-Early Tertiary development of Tethys in the Eastern Mediterranean region Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 1996; 105(1): 239 - 263. [Abstract] [PDF]

				L. Edgington and N. Harbury Provenance of braided alluvial deposits of the Thari Formation, Rhodes, SE Aegean: evidence for major erosion of an ophiolite-bearing thrust sheet Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 1993; 75(1): 389 - 403. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. D. CLIFT and A. H. F. ROBERTSON Deep-water basins within the Mesozoic carbonate platform of Argolis, Greece Journal of the Geological Society, October 1, 1990; 147(5): 825 - 836. [Abstract] [PDF]