A Model for the Plate Tectonic Evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean Region that Emphasizes the Role of Transform (Strike-Slip) Structures

A model for the tectonic evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean region from Mesozoic to Present is developed from geological, geophysical, and seismological data on and surrounding the island of Cyprus. This model emphasizes the role of major transform structures in accommodating horizontal plate motions, driven from the west by spreading along the Atlantic-Arctic mid-ocean-ridge system and from the east by escape tectonics related to the movement of the Arabian plate. In particular, this model interprets the African-Anatolian plate boundary as a system of left-lateral transform structures, >75 km wide, that has been active since the early Mesozoic. In this model, Neotethys spreading and closure (subduction and obduction) occurred north of the transform system. Geophysical data indicates that the Troodos ophiolite dips northward; suggesting that subduction was to the north beneath the Anatolian plate. Southward obduction of the Troodos ophiolite was facilitated by contemporaneous left-lateral horizontal shear. The northward sequence of 1) a wide zone of shear containing ophiolites; 2) contracted trench and accretionary prism rocks; and 3) a north-dipping subduction zone is similar to the sequence described across the Arabia-Anatolian plate boundary, indicating commonality in tectonic evolution.