A REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC FRAMEWORK FOR LATER CENOZOIC SEQUENCES IN THENORTHEASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION

This study describes the lithostratigraphic character of mid-Cenozoic (Oligocene-Pliocene) sequences in different parts of the northeastern Mediterranean area and offers a detailed stratigraphic correlation for this region. The sequences concerned are drawn from the Camardi area (south-central Anatolia), the Adana Basin, the Misis Mountains and the Kyrenia Range (northern Cyprus) and the submerged Florence Rise (west of Cyprus). The stratigraphic relationships identified here indicate the following: (a) Following the middle Eocene (Lutetian) regression t here was uplift throughout the entire region; (b) Episodes of fluvial and lacustrine deposition in intramontane settings ensued in most of t his region during the late Eocene/early Miocene interval; (c) Followin g a regionally extensive phase of tectonic compression, major marine t ransgression commenced in the late Oligocene in northern Cyprus and in the early Miocene in adjacent southern Turkey, with the exception of the Ecemis Fault Zone where continental deposition continued; (d) Thes e Oligo-Miocene transgressive sequences comprise a broadly diachronous complex of both shallow and deeper marine facies, including reefal ca rbonates, littoral clastics, basinal shales and fan-turbidites; (e) De eper marine Miocene facies persisted longer in the Misis area and in n orthern Cyprus; (f) A regional regression occurred throughout most of the area during the late Serravallian to Tortonian interval and is mar ked by the abrupt, locally discordant appearance of extensive shallow marine, deltaic and fluvial deposits; (g) Continued regression in the Messinian led to the formation of significant evaporite deposits in th e western and southern parts of the region, but localized uplift of th e Misis area is attested by the initial deformation of the Neogene roc ks there and the absence of Messinian sediments from this area; (h) In the Pliocene there was extensive emergence of the northern parts of t he region interrupted by brief marine incursions. The present-day drai nage pattern was established at this time; (i) Marine conditions persi sted longer in northern Cyprus, where emergence occurred only in the l atest Pliocene.