Publication Date:
2022-07-22
Description:
This paper is a dcscription of the shallow structure of the Cretan Trough in the Aegean Sea as illustrated by continuous seismic profiles obtained by R. V. "Meteor" (1600 n.m., 1974), and R. R. S. "Shackleton" (1000 n.m., 1972, 1974). Study of this data shows an erosional unconformity between indurated rocks and sediments which over most of the Cretan Trough corresponds to erosion after the main Alpine orogeny and prior to the Upper Tortonian and in some places to the Upper Pliocene transgression. Thick sediments of up to 1.5 km have collected in local basins. Strong vertical movements on normal faults were responsible for the formation of the Cretan Trough and subsequently controlled the sedimentation. Sediments within the Trough have been deformed by Upper Pliocene/Pleistocene faulting and folding. Quaternary intrusions of volcanic? material are sporadically observed over the whole width of the Cretan Trough and do not suggest active seafloor spreading. Extensional processes are seen to be the dominant f eature in the tectonics of this area since ca. 10 m. y. A geodynamic process responsible for the observed structural data - mantle diapirism or subduction induced back-arc spreading - could not be derived from the reflection seismic data.
Type:
Article
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
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