Middle Miocene graben development in Crete and its possible relation to large-scale detachment faults in the Southern Aegean

Abstract

The linkage between the development of south-facing Cretan graben and large-scale detachment faulting in the southern Aegean is unknown. Widespread Serravallian deposits in the lerapetra graben of Crete supply constraints to Middle Miocene graben development in the southern Aegean. The lerapetra graben, and by inference the Cretan graben in general, were hitherto believed to have formed as a result of sinistral transpression during N-S shortening. We argue that the formation of the Cretan graben is due to N-S extension. The south-dipping, N-S-extending Kritsa normal fault served as the master fault controlling graben development in the lerapetra graben. The Kritsa normal fault is either an antithetic fault related to the top-N Cretan detachment or a synthetic fault associated with the top-S los detachment. The overall geometry and timing relationships lead us to favour a connection with the los detachment, which in turn implies a large-scale displacement on the los detachment.