Seismic stratigraphy and deformational styles of the offshore Cyrenaica (Libya) and bordering Mediterranean Ridge

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. © 2011 The Authors Geophysical Journal International © 2011 RAS.