Print this pageDetailed Kinematics of the Mediterranean: 2--Relative Motions and Basin Dynamics
J. F. Dewey, M. L. Helman
The detailed motion of Africa with respect to Europe provides a powerful tool
that can be used in analyzing sedimentary basins in the Mediterranean. The
interaction of the large lithospheric plates and intervening microplates results
in changing patterns of in-plane lithospheric stress. Such stress variation has
ramifications in both the intra-and interplate realm. In an actively subsiding
sedimentary basin, such stress variation is 
reflected
in the basin stratigraphy,
particularly in the patterns of apparent sea level change on the margins of the
basin.
In preliminary analysis of our new relative motion model, we noted a
correlation between changes in the motion vector of Africa as it moves with
respect to Europe and subsidence changes, as seen on burial history curves, in
some basins around the Mediterranean. Many of these changes occurred long after
the initial rifting phase which formed these basins. Reflection seismic data
from these basins shows no indication of renewed fault motion when the thermal
subsidence phase of these basins was disrupted. We show that the motion of
Africa relative to Europe is sensitively reflected
in the sequence stratigraphy
of Mediterranean sedimentary basins.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.