Faulting and halokinetics in the northeastern Mediterranean between Cyprus and Turkey

The Neogene Cilician Basin between Cyprus and Turkey in the northeastern Mediterranean has been infilled asymmetrically from the north and northeast, with the northeastern part having been completely filled to form the Adana Basin that lies beneath the plains of the Seyhan delta. A combination of asymmetric infilling of Pliocene-Quat ernary sediments and tectonic structure and movements in the basement mobilized the substratum of Messinian evaporites and associated sediments. This, in turn, caused deformation of the overlying sediments. Evaporite layers have flowed laterally away from the northern and northeastern depocenters and diapirically in the main Cilician Basin. This flowage, combined with faulting and uplift within and along the margins of the basin, has resulted in the production of a distinct series of morphologic-t ectonic zones with a general east trend. The processes appear to be continuing today and affect the most recently deposited sediments.