Structural evolution of the Neogene salt basins in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea

Abstract

This paper attempts to describe the Neogene evaporite basins in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea Rift in the context of the regional tectonic framework and the regional tectonic phases of the Alpine-Mediterranean region. It is mainly based on airgun seismic surveys in the Mediterranean and Red Sea carried out in the time span between 1971 and 1973. The Neogene basins of the Eastern Mediterranean as well as the Red Sea began to form after the main Oligocene - Lower Miocene Alpine orogenic phase. The morphological conditions for evaporite deposition in the Mediterranean basins, during a short period of time were provided by late Miocene - early Pliocene tectonic movements in the basin peripheries, which caused a temporary restricted connection with the open sea. It was followed by open marine conditions during the Pliocene. Graben subsidence in the Red Sea Rift began during Oligocene - early Miocene. Initial terrestrial sedimentation was followed by widespread evaporite deposition, which lasted throughout a considerable part of the Miocene period. The late Miocene - early Pliocene tectonic phase caused a final disruption of the connection with the Mediterranean. Open marine conditions were established in the Pliocene through a connection with the Indian Ocean. Regional doming of the Arabian-Nubian shield and axial collapse, first of the main graben and later of the axial trough, is thought to represent the dominant mechanism for the origin of the Red Sea Rift.