Late Cretaceous to Palaeogene thin-skinned tectonics of the Palmyrides belt (Syria)

Phanerozoic geological evolution of Northern and Central Africa: An overview

“…Noticeable dextral transpression occurred along the southern Egypt E-W trending Aswan fault swarm. In a few areas, for example northeastern Algeria (Aris et al, 1998) or the Palmyrides (Salel and Séguret, 1994), the compression initiated a little sooner during the Late Maastrichtian. On a plate scale, the shortening direction was NNW-SSE oriented, i.e.…”

Neogene volcanic activity of western Syria and its relationship with Arabian plate kinematics

“…1). This fault system accommodated the differential motion between the African plate (moving in a N-NE direction relative to the Eurasian Plate at a rate of ∼10 mm/year) and the Arabian micro-plate (moving in a N-NW direction at a rate of ∼18-25 mm/year; McClusky et al, 2003); (b) the formation of the upper Oligocene-Miocene Palmyrides fold-and-thrust belt, made up of deformed Cretaceous-Paleogene formations, aligned along NE-SW directed anticlinals and synclinals in the western Arabian plate, east of the DST (e.g., Al-Saad et al, 1992;Salel and Seguret, 1994;Litak et al, 1997;Rukieh et al, 2005; Fig. 1) and (c) major Cenozoic (mostly Neogene) volcanic activity (e.g., Mouty et al, 1992;Heimann and Ron, 1993;Sharkov et al, 1998;Bertrand et al, 2003;Shaw et al, 2003;Abdel-Rahman and Nassa, 2004;Fig.…”

Dynamic processes controlling foreland development – the role of mechanical (de)coupling of orogenic wedges and forelands

“…During the Coniacian to Campanian, the north-westerly striking Euphrates graben of Syria came into evidence. This was followed by the late Eocene to Miocene main inversion of the Palmyra Trough (Salel and Séguret, 1994;Sawaf et al, 2001;Walley, 2001). At the same time the remnant foreland basin of the Taurides was disrupted by the upthrusting of an array of basement blocks (Fig.…”