The Eastern Mediterranean and the levant: Tectonics of continental collision

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Abstract

By subdividing the Alpine belt into the Europe, Persia and Tibet segments, we recognize a linear relationship between slip rate and width of the Persia and Tibet segments, and their plateau-like morphology. The proposed explanation is purely geometrical - depending only on mass inflow of the nearby plates. The study of the Levant fracture zone, at the boundary between two of these plates, reveals that as we approach the collision zone, more and more horizontal deformation is taken up by branching faults. The mode of plate consumption is very sensitive to the nature of colliding crusts. As the thickness of the Africa plate increases eastward, the consumption becomes more and more collision-like, with the disappearance of deep earthquakes. In contrast, consumption is not strongly influenced by the rate of convergence. This suggests again that geometry and mass are the important quantities controlling consumption. We discern four zones in the Eastern Mediterranean with diffuse boundaries. These zones are not microplates, but rather the product of the breakup of the colliding Africa plate. © 1978.

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Nur, A., & Ben-Avraham, Z. (1978). The Eastern Mediterranean and the levant: Tectonics of continental collision. Tectonophysics, 46(3–4), 297–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(78)90209-3

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