1. Seismic stratigraphy and deformational styles of the offshore Cyrenaica (Libya) and bordering Mediterranean Ridge.
- Author
-
Yem, Lionel Mbida, Camera, Laurent, Mascle, Jean, and Ribodetti, Alessandra
- Subjects
STRATIGRAPHIC geology ,SEISMOLOGY ,DEFORMATIONS (Mechanics) ,GEOLOGICAL basins ,CONTINENTAL margins ,THRUST faults (Geology) ,CONTINENTAL crust - Abstract
Off northwest Libya the Cyrenaica foreland basin domain and its Pan-African continental crust, which constitute the African promontory, are overthrusted by the Mediterranean Ridge Complex. The thrust belt contact and its seismic stratigraphy have been analysed using pre-stack depth-migrated multichannel seismic (MCS) lines recorded during the MEDISIS survey (2002). The geometry and sedimentary distribution analysis through the wedge-top depocentres allow reconstruction of schematic cross-sections of the tectono-sedimentary wedge that includes two major thrust sequences separated by an apparently poorly deformed transition zone. Based on time-space variation of several piggyback basins, we propose that these thrust sequences relate to distinct phases of shortening. (1) A first event, which probably occurred just prior to the Messinian crisis in latest Miocene (Tortonian times?) and (2) A second event, that has finally led to the present-day overthrusting of the Mediterranean Ridge over the Libyan continental slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF