New data on the Late Cenozoic basaltic volcanism in Syria, applied to its origin

Geological-Geomechanical Simulation of the Late Cenozoic Geodynamics in the Alpine-Mediterranean Mobile Belt

“…It likely evidence about uncompensated excess of mass beneath these structures, presumably associated with the kinematics of the mantle plume ascending and extending of its head. This is supported by seismic tomography data (Gök et al, 2003) and consistent with the wide development of the Neogene-Quaternary platobasaltic volcanism in the north Arabian plate (Trifonov et al, 2011) and more rare -in Transcaucasia. In this regard, attention is drawn to the isotopic characteristics of lavas of Mount Elbrus, for which was establish the impurity plume material increases with time (Chernyshev et al, 2002) Another indication of the existence of the plume under the South Caucasus is a found of a mantle helium in the Lake Van in the north-eastern Turkey (Kipfer et al, 1994).…”

The kinematics of central-southern Turkey and northwest Syria revisited

“…1) runs SSW, offshore from the Latakia area to the vicinity of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, was reported by Trifonov et al (1991) after a Russian research ship mapped the offshore bathymetry of this area (as described by , revealing sea-floor relief that was interpreted as evidence of active faulting involving components of normal and left-lateral slip. This fault zone has since been depicted by Trifonov (2000), Rukieh et al (2005), Trifonov et al (2011), and others; the Support for the idea that an active fault zone is located in this offshore area is provided by GPS (Table 1) Another deduction from the GPS data (Table 1), which at first sight seems surprising, is that point LAUG in coastal Lebanon is moving SSW relative to the points (RSHM, BATH and DOHA) in western…”

“…1), and are thought (e.g., Westaway et al, 2008) to represent the northward continuation of the western boundary of the Arabian Plate at this time (see, also, Demir et al, 2012). Trifonov et al (2011) have resolved both the LMMP and the present phase of deformation from earlier motions and have summarised the evidence distinguishing each of these phases for the DSFZ and other localities within the Arabian Plate. Kinnaird and Robertson (2013) have subsequently recognised a phase of crustal deformation in Cyprus that spanned the latter part of the Messinian and the Early Pliocene, with a deformation sense that was distinct from the phases occurring both before and after, apparently the local equivalent of the LMMP phase recognized elsewhere.…”

“…Following early studies such as those by Muehlberger and Gordon (1987) and Perinçek and Çemen (1990), many authors have proposed that this corridor is bounded by active faults; some workers, most recently Over et al (2002), have inferred that both its NW and SE margins are active-faultbounded, whereas others (e.g., Rojay et al, 2001) have inferred that its NW margin is active-faultbounded, and such a feature continues to be included on regional summary maps in publications that are not specific to the locality, such as those by Trifonov et al (2011) and Mahmoud et al (2013). More recently, others (e.g., Boulton et al, 2006Boulton et al, , 2007Boulton and Whittaker, 2009) have argued that although its NW margin is not an active fault zone, its SE margin is bounded by active oblique normal faults.…”

Does the Tethys Begin to Open Again? Late Cenozoic Tectonomagmatic Activization of the Eurasia from Petrological and Geomechanical Points of View

“…Indeed, the Syrian lavas show incompatible trace element content increasing with decreasing age from ~26 to ~5 Ma followed by an abrupt decrease to low values roughly at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary; lavas of the second stage show the same variation with age. This temporal shift in composition is related to major tectonic re-organization of the region occurred during Late Miocene, which finally led to appearance of the north continuation of the Levant Transform and intensification of the Palmirides formation (Rukieh et al, 2005;Trifonov et al, 2011). During all this period volcanic centers have not had a stable position and systematically shifted in the region.…”