Discrete Plio-Pleistocene phases of tilting and counterclockwise rotation in the southeastern Aegean arc (Rhodos, Greece): early Pliocene formation of the south Aegean left-lateral strike-slip system

Abstract

International audienceThe island of Rhodos represents an uplifted block in the largely submerged southeastern Aegean forearc. It has a complex history of subsidence, uplift and counterclockwise rotation during the Plio- Pleistocene, in response to the interplay between large-scale geodynamic processes. In this paper, we present a new chronostratigraphic framework for the continental Pliocene Apolakkia basin of southwestern Rhodos. We combine these time constraints with recently published chronostratigraphic data from the marine Plio- Pleistocene basins of northeastern Rhodos to reconstruct rotational and vertical motions. Our palaeomagnetic results identify two rotation phases for Rhodos: c. 10°(9 ±6°) counterclockwise (ccw) rotation between 3.8 and 3.6 Ma, and c. 17± 6° ccw rotation since 0.8 Ma. Between these phases, Rhodos tilted to the SE, drowning the southeastern coast to a depth of 500–600 m between 2.5 and 1.8 Ma, then to the NW, which resulted in the re-emergence of the drowned relief between 1.5 and 1.1 Ma. We relate the rotations of Rhodos to incipient formation of the south Aegean sinistral strike-slip system and the foundering of the Rhodos basin. The previously shown absence of Messinian evaporites in the deep-marine Rhodos basin in combination with the 3.8 Ma onset of ccw rotation of Rhodos constrains the onset of the formation of the south Aegean strikeslip system between 5.3 and 3.8 Ma. The formation of this strike-slip system is probably related to the interplay of oblique collision between the southeastern Aegean region and the northward moving African plate, the westward motion of Anatolia, gravitational spreading of the overthickened Aegean lithosphere and the recently postulated southwestward retreat of the African subducted slab along a subduction-transform edge-propagator fault

Rotation history of Chios Island, Greece since the Middle Miocene

“…Local rotations along the Greek-Turkish boundary are not uncommon. For example, Lower Miocene (15-18.5 Ma) volcanics of the adjacent Karaburun peninsula yield significant clockwise rotations, as does the region around (1) Evvia: Kissel et al (1986b), Morris (1995), see also Kissel and Laj (1988) and van Hinsbergen et al (2005avan Hinsbergen et al ( ,b, 2008 for the wider west-Aegean region with large clockwise Neogene rotations; (2) Skyros: Kissel et al (1986b); (3) Lemnos: Westphal and Kondopoulou (1993); (4) Lesvos: Kissel et al (1989) and Beck et al (2001); (5) Northern Menderes Massif Miocene volcano-sedimentary basins: van Hinsbergen et al (2010a); (6) Tinos: Avigad et al (1998); (7) Mykonos: Morris and Anderson (1996); (8) Naxos: Morris and Anderson (1996); (9) Neogene basins Lycian Nappes: van Hinsbergen et al (2010a); (10) Southeastern Aegean region (Crete, Karpathos, Rhodos): Duermeijer et al (1998Duermeijer et al ( , 2000 and van Hinsbergen et al (2007); (11) Bey Dagları: , Morris and Robertson (1993) and van Hinsbergen et al (2010b).…”

“…Careful regional analyses of these zones of local strong rotations may help to outline important transform boundaries. For instance, in the southern Aegean region, consistently counterclockwise rotations with strongly varying amounts are related to the South Aegean strike-slip system (Duermeijer et al, 1998;van Hinsbergen et al, 2007), which has been interpreted to reflect block rotations close to a slab transform edge propagator fault (Govers and Wortel, 2005). The North Anatolian Fault Zone and its equivalents in northern Greece form another clear example of chaotic, strike-slip related rotations (Westphal and Kondopoulou, 1993;Kaymakci et al, 2007;Kondopoulou et al, 2007;Piper et al, 2009).…”

Evolution of the Bababurnu Basin and shelf of the Biga Peninsula: Western extension of the middle strand of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, Northeast Aegean Sea, Turkey

“…Reconstructions based on paleomagnetic data from the southern Aegean region, including central and western Anatolia, suggest that the convergence zone between the African Plate and the Aegean-Anatolian Microplate had a broadly E-W trend in the early Miocene (Morris and Anderson, 1996;Walcott and White, 1998;Kissel et al, 2003;Van Hinsbergen et al, 2007). These studies documented that the western and eastern segments of the Aegean segment of the Aegean-Anatolian Microplate experienced 22-30°c lockwise and 19-33°counterclockwise rotations since the middle Miocene, respectively, leading to the present-day morphology of the Hellenic Arc (Fig.…”

Early-to-mid Pleistocene Tectonic Transition Across the Eastern Mediterranean Influences the Course of Human History

“…Rhodos, which was tilted southeastwards and submerged at depths of 500-600 m between 2.5 and 1.8 Ma, tilted to the northwest between 1.5 and 1.1 Ma. As a result some of its submerged relief re-emerged from the sea (van Hinsbergen et al, 2007).…”