Subduction and vertical coastal motions in the eastern

摘要: The active tectonics of the eastern Mediterranean is ultimately related to the N–S convergence 37 between Nubia and Eurasia at∼ 10 mmyr− 1 (Reilinger et al., 2006; DeMets et al., 2010). 38 The leading edge of Nubia is the sea floor of the eastern Mediterranean, consisting of oceanic 39 crust (eg Le Pichon et al., 1979; Chaumillon and Mascle, 1997), possibly as old as Palæozoic 40 (Granot, 2016), yet nowhere is it in contact with the stable Eurasian plate. Instead, the 41 southern margin of Eurasia consists of continental material moving relatively rapidly (typically 42> 10 mm yr− 1; Reilinger et al., 2006; Nocquet, 2012) with respect to the stable interior, and in 43 a variety of directions. The ultimate fate of the Nubian oceanic crust is subduction into the 44 mantle, shown by the occurrence in several places of earthquakes as deep as 100–150 km (eg 45 Caputo et al., 1970; Jackson and McKenzie, 1984; Hatzfeld and Martin, 1992; Hatzfeld, 1994). 46 However, at shallow levels the Nubian oceanic crust is covered by sediment up to 10 km thick, 47 detached from the underlying basement by décollement layers, particularly in Cretaceous shale 48 and Messinian salt (Chaumillon and Mascle, 1997; Huguen et al., 2001). Most of this sediment 49 is not subducted into the mantle (eg Mann, 1983; Briqueu et al., 1986; Zellmer et al., 2000) 50 and its presence obscures the usual bathymetric features of typical oceanic subduction zones. 51 Nonetheless, the region contains several prominent, deep and linear bathymetric escarpments 52 that are clearly related to faulting (Emery et al., 1966; Jongsma, 1977; Le Pichon et al., 1979; 53 Huchon et al., 1982 …