Accretionary prism–forearc interactions as reflected in the sedimentary fill of southern Thrace Basin (Lemnos Island, NE Greece)

Comment on Maravelis et al. “Accretionary prism–forearc interactions as reflected in the sedimentary fill of southern Thrace Basin (Lemnos Island, NE Greece)”

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This contribution is intended to shed light on the content of the paper by Maravelis et al (2015) about the evolution of the island of Limnos, a small portion of the Cenozoic Thrace Basin (Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria). Although we appreciate their approach to use sediment provenance for paleotectonic reconstructions, we have concerns how this subject has been dealt with and how it is presented to the scientific community.

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“…Most of our criticism is about the attempt of Maravelis et al to provide a review of the evolution of the Thrace Basin using (1) an inadequate dataset, (2) an inadequate area (Limnos is <5 % of the Thrace Basin) and (3) the interpretation provided by different authors in previous papers without properly citing the source of the information. In their introduction section, Maravelis et al (2015) summarise the results from previous provenance studies done in the whole Thrace Basin (extending through Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey). Interestingly, they do not mention the work by Meinhold and BouDagher-Fadel (2010) and Caracciolo et al (2012) for the EoceneOligocene successions exposed on the island of Samothraki (NE Greece) and in Southern Bulgaria, respectively.…”

“…Furthermore, it was a surprise to recognise that Maravelis et al (2015) did not even mention the Reply of Caracciolo et al (2013) to their discussion Zelilidis 2013a, b, cited in Maravelis et al 2015) where key problems about the provenance of the Thrace Basin sediments were debated. How should this issue be evaluated objectively, when Maravelis et al (2015) use the evidences provided by Caracciolo et al (2013) to support part of the provenance aspects included in their 2015 paper without referring to the original sources?…”

“…How should this issue be evaluated objectively, when Maravelis et al (2015) use the evidences provided by Caracciolo et al (2013) to support part of the provenance aspects included in their 2015 paper without referring to the original sources?…”

“…Another point of discussion is related to both the analytical techniques and the "provenance" diagrams used by Maravelis et al (2015). In particular, we refer to the use of hand-held XRF to determine the chemical data used for their interpretation.…”