Dramatic Pliocene-Quaternary Subsidence Of The Southern Rhodes Basin And Concomitant North-Tilting And Uplift Of The Anaximander Mountains, The Junction Of Hellenic And Cyprus Arcs, Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The Anaximander Mountains and the Rhodes Basin at the junction of Cyprus and Hellenic arcs are one of the tectonically most complex regions in the eastern Mediterranean. Harmonically-tilted Messinian and the uppermost Messinian-Pliocene successions across the northern and eastern margins of the Rhodes Basin showed that these regions experienced dramatic subsidence exceeding similar to 1500-2500 ms (similar to 1125-1875 m @ 1500 m s(-1)) during the upper Pliocene-Quaternary. Tilted upper Pliocene-Quaternary growth strata wedges showing apparent north-directed downlap along the northern foothills of the Anaximander Mountain suggested that this region experienced similar to 1000-2500 ms (similar to 750-1125 m) concomitant uplift. The absence of faults showing extensional stratigraphic separations and the relative subsidence rates calculated using amount of tilting collectively suggest that the Rhodes Basin experienced sagging of its deeper basinal regions, which is attributable to the loading effect of the building of the Tauride Mountains modified by the vertical axis rotations of the Beydaglari Block and the Island of Rhodes, and the horizontal axis rotation of the Anaximander Mountain.